There Is No Greater Hell
by Shadow Serenity 57
Summary: Miyako Tsukino; a high school student just trying to live her life, until she and her classmates discover they have the ability to summon actual Egyptian gods in the basement of their new dorm and are perhaps a little too excited about it... at least after they have to face themselves. Contains (hopefully) everything you've come to know and expect from a Persona story. OC-Centric.
1. Term Begins

_"There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear."_  
 _-Ben Jonson_

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Term Begins**

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Miyako opened her eyes to a strange sight. The only thing she could think to compare it to was the inside of a spaceship one might see on some science fiction show. There were computer terminals lining most of the walls all around her, their displays all blank. Oddly, they were all tinted a strange shade of royal blue, and none of them were manned. In fact, Miyako didn't see anyone anywhere in the room at all. The only window took up nearly one entire wall, however she couldn't see anything outside other than dark purple clouds, or so she guessed. They looked more like a space nebula than clouds.

Considering her interest in science fiction, Miyako was, thus far, unimpressed.

She realized she was wearing a school uniform – the one she'd worn last year in her first year in high school, and the one she'd still be wearing in the upcoming year. _Odd_ , she thought, but didn't question it further because she assumed by now that she must be dreaming. Which was just as odd because this certainly didn't feel like any dream she'd ever had before. She was aware of it, for one thing.

In addition, she didn't recognize the figures sitting in the center of the room, figures that she just noticed but swore hadn't been there a minute ago, watching her patiently but curiously. She had heard once that people can only dream about faces they'd seen when awake, but she was sure she'd remember a face with a nose like _that_. Miyako couldn't tell his age, but the woman to his right, occupying the chair normally reserved for second-in-command, looked very young by comparison.

Miyako was suddenly aware that it must have been Long-Nose, seated in the so-called captain's chair, who had spoken at the beginning of her dream. A desk and a chair had appeared before him, and he beckoned her forwards with a gesture towards it…

* * *

 **Monday, April 6** **th** **, 2015 – Early Morning**

 **Toukawa City – Miyako's Home**

When her phone alarm buzzed in the morning to wake her, Miyako wrestled with a sudden urge to cry. Whatever strange dream she'd had last night had made her anxious, and she felt as though she hasn't even fallen asleep. Oh, how she was going to look like hell in a few hours… At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and sleep.

Her alarm had other plans however, continuing to buzz cheerily, heedless of her wishes. She groaned and only poked her arm out of the covers to attack the snooze option before withdrawing, debating on just skipping school. It was the first day of term though, so skipping wouldn't be a fantastic first impression on her new teachers or classmates. Instead, she lay in her warm, comfortable, fluffy blanket mountain and contemplated the visions that jumped to the front of her mind.

The long-nosed man in the dream had introduced himself as Igor, and announced the woman next to him as Scarlet, his assistant. Which Miyako couldn't help but note was also another odd point since, as everything else in the area barring herself and Igor, Scarlet's outfit was also colored a royal blue. Not that her name dictated what color clothing she were permitted to wear, of course.

Igor had called Miyako their "honored guest" in the Velvet Room, and that he and Scarlet were the room's residents. Which didn't make sense to her, since she was sure she recalled being in a spaceship; not that people in her TV shows didn't live there, but she didn't see any doors or corridors to other areas. The entire experience had been extremely… well, _odd_ , even by dream standards. It was strange enough for her to remember her dreams at all, much less as vividly as this one. The part that made her anxious, though, was that the very last thing Igor had told her was "I will summon you again very soon". Apparently he wanted to discuss some serious topic that was supposed to center around her. Miyako was pretty sure she could survive without ever seeing him again.

And what to say about the strange way he spoke? He had a bad habit of speaking in riddles and asking rhetorical questions, and Miyako didn't much have the patience for it. Much less so when she was already on edge about her location and what was even happening. At least Scarlet was a little easier to read. Although she hadn't said a word the entire time, she had been downright giddy when Igor called Miyako their guest. She could hardly sit still, a huge grin on her face.

What _did_ fascinate her was Igor's deck of tarot cards. It was a completely random question, asking out of the blue if she believed in fortune telling. He seemed to know a lot more about them than she did, though admittedly Miyako only dabbled in them as sort of a hobby. Still, some traitorous part of her wished she could go back and hear more about them from someone who actually seemed to know what they were talking about. The other, stronger part of her told her she'd be better off learning them on her own.

When she had more time, of course. Her secondary alarm started to blare, meaning she'd already wasted a half an hour just lying in bed. _How has it been so long already?_ she thought. _It's like just thinking about that place causes time to pass faster._

* * *

 **Monday, April 6** **th** **, 2015 – Morning**

 **Toukawa City – School Grounds**

"I can't afford that!" Miyako cried out, drawing the attention of several of her nearby classmates.

She arrived at school, found her locker and then her homeroom, where she waited anxiously for the day to begin, with plenty of time to spare. She was quite surprised to see several of her previous year's classmates walk into the room throughout the short time, starting with the two males seated around her. Instead of dwelling on last night's visions, she tried to focus on the conversation she was now having with the two boys, and hoped she didn't look as tired as she felt.

The tall black-haired boy seated in front of her glanced around and waved to the other students, then turned his attention back to Miyako. "The three of us combined couldn't," he said, removing his glasses, and wiping the lenses with his sleeve. "We would have to involve several others, of course. But my parents offered to help us cover what we can't."

"Naturally," said the blond boy to Miyako's right, reclining in his seat with his feet up on his desk. "Well I can pretty much guarantee being able to get Rui on board, so long as she'll have a roommate."

"I have already talked to Shizuka about it as well," continued the black-haired boy. "You're her friend, aren't you, Miyako? You should talk to her later about it, too. She said she'd consider it, but she's going to try to convince Kiyoshi to get involved. She says she's worried about the cost, too, but I think she has a little crush."

She nodded in acknowledgement. "So, that makes… six?" Miyako counted on her fingers, uninterested in the gossip, at least for the moment. "Me, you, Ren, Rui, Shizuka, Kiyoshi. Still, I'm only part-time at the café down the block. Six of us aren't going to fit into an apartment, even a studio!"

"Why do you talk about me like I'm not here?" the blond demanded, crossing his arms.

"That's why we'll be looking into a house, instead," the other boy continued, ignoring the blond. Satisfied with his lenses, he put his glasses back on his face, magnifying his brown eyes. The blond boy fumed, his face turning a deep red.

"A house?" Miyako asked hesitantly. "That's… a lot more expensive, even with all of us. Just how much money are your parents willing to give you, Ryo?"

"Let's just say they want me out of the house," the black-haired boy replied with a smirk. "Ren and I make too much noise."

"W-well if you would stop hogging all the blankets-" the blond started, suddenly flailing, then he gasped as he lost his balance and fell backwards out of his seat, landing in a heap on the floor. Ryo only frowned. Several of their classmates once again turned at the commotion, but only Miyako stood to help him up.

"Anyway," Ren said after waving Miyako away and resuming his seat, "she's right, that's still a lot of money for six school kids."

"We can always get more," Ryo countered.

"Oh yeah? And where will everyone sleep? The more people we get, the more room we'll need, and the more expensive it's going to be!"

"We share rooms," Ryo deadpanned.

Miyako squeaked, feeling her own face start to warm up. "Y-you don't mean like… like… boys and girls, do you?"

"Well Ren and I would be sharing a room, obviously," Ryo said, shrugging. "But if that's what you want…"

"N-no, I'm okay with sharing with either Shizuka or Rui! But what about the other girl? She'd have to share with Kiyoshi… or are you planning on letting him stay with you and having us three girls in the other room?"

"Oh hell no!" Ren shouted. "The whole point is so Ryo and I get some privacy, I don't care how much of a hermit – oof!" he coughed as Ryo delivered a swift kick to his stomach, an impressive action considering both were in their desks.

"That wasn't nice," Miyako said.

Ren coughed and grumbled as he tried to speak. "I know, right? At least once a day–"

"I was talking to you," Miyako scolded, rolling her eyes. "Kiyoshi's a nice guy, he's just a little quiet. You wouldn't even know he was there!"

"Even so," Ryo said with a sigh, "Ren is right. I would prefer that Kiyoshi – or anyone else, for that matter – was not in the opposite bed while Ren and I are having s–"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Ren shouted.

"Okay, I did _not_ need to know about that!" Miyako groaned.

"It's never bothered you before," Ryo said with a frown.

Miyako raised her hands in defense and hastily backpedaled. "No no no, I don't mean it like that! It doesn't bother me at all! Really, I don't care what you two do when you're alone. But that doesn't mean I need to hear a blow-by-blow!"

Ren smirked, but after realizing what she said, Miyako glared him down before he could comment.

"Anyway," she continued, "it doesn't matter who it is, I don't need to know the details of your – or anyone's! – personal love lives."

"I see," Ryo answered. "It seems I misunderstood, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Miyako insisted, smiling back at him. "C-can we just drop it, then? Let's just get back to this house situation, yes? I don't know if Shizuka or Kiyoshi even have jobs. Does Rui?" she asked, turning to Ren.

"What was that about a house?" asked a passing brunet, pausing to lean on a desk next to Miyako. "You all planning something?"

"Oh, um… hi, Takara-san," Miyako waved at him. He winked at her in response.

Ryo got his attention. "To answer your question, yes. The three of us are looking into the possibility of buying a house this year."

"Awesome! I'm in. Let me know if you guys find a good one, okay?" Takara grinned.

"Any objections?" Ryo asked the other two.

"Um…" Miyako started, sharing a glance with Ren.

"Er, well…" Ren said, equally lost for words. Takara looked between them, still grinning.

"I, um… I don't know if we have the room for anyone else," Miyako said diplomatically.

"Another person would mean less to pay for each of us," Ryo said, very obviously confused. Miyako and Ren each shot him a traitorous glare. Takara wither didn't notice or pretended not to.

"Wait, pay?" the brunet said, confused.

"Well, yeah," Ren said. "Someone has to pay the rent. We're not just going to get a house for free."

"Makes sense," Takara replied, thinking. "Okay, I can handle that. No problem. I'm in."

Unsure of how to turn him down politely after that, Miyako let out a small sigh. "Well, I guess if we find something big enough, we'll let you know."

"Awesome! Can't wait. So, do you guys know whose homeroom this is?"

Sensing that the house topic discussion was over, Miyako answered. "Nakamura-sensei's."

"Which Nakamura? I think there were like seven of them here last I'd heard," Takara replied.

"Not exactly," Ryo said, sensing a moment to show off his smarts. "There are actually four teachers named Nakamura currently teaching here, three males and a female. The first –"

"So which one is ours?"

"…I haven't a clue," the black-haired boy grumbled.

"I guess we'll find out soon, the bell should be ringing any minute." Takara looked up at the clock. "It's weird that the teacher isn't here by now, isn't it? Anyway, I'll catch you guys later." The brunet grinned and waved, picking out an empty seat near the back of the room, next to a balding male who appeared to be sleeping at his desk, his head down.

As the trio turned back to continue their conversation, a tall redhead girl walked into the room, chatting with a short blond boy with glasses who entered just after her, bag on his back and several books in his arms. Miyako waved as the redhead turned to observe the room, looking for a seat. The pair made their way over.

Miyako bounced out of her chair and pulled the redhead into a hug as she approached. "Shizuka! We were just talking about you. I have to talk to you during lunch, okay?"

"Easy, Miyako!" the redhead cried, all smiles. She hugged Miyako back gently. "I saw you two days ago! I still need to breathe, y'know!"

"Sorry, sorry," the brunette girl said, releasing her grip on her friend. "I wasn't expecting you in our class this year! Hey, Kiyoshi," she added, waving.

"Hey, Miyako-san" the shorter boy replied with a small smile. He was slightly shorter than Miyako, and a full foot shorter than Shizuka. The redhead was slightly taller than average, but it still made Miyako giggle seeing the two of them next to each other.

"Please, how many times do I need to tell you, you don't need to be so formal around us!" she said, shaking her head. Kiyoshi didn't respond, only shrugged.

"What's with all the books, man?" Ren asked, reminding Miyako of his presence. "You take school way too seriously."

"Oh, these are Shizuka-chan's," Kiyoshi replied quietly, adjusting the books in his arms.

She waited for him to explain, but after a beat, Shizuka took over with a shrug. "I tripped in the hallway and dropped them. Kiyoshi saw me and picked them up for me. And then he wouldn't let me take them back!"

"That's sweet," Miyako said. Kiyoshi blushed and turned away. Miyako looked at him curiously, but no one else seemed to notice as Ren laughed aloud, drawing their attention. Miyako kicked him in the shin.

"Where should I put these?" Kiyoshi asked, turning back to Shizuka.

"Oooh! Sit here!" Miyako cried, pointing to the desk Shizuka was leaning on, at Miyako's left.

"Works for me," the redhead said enthusiastically. She stepped aside as Kiyoshi moved to drop off her books. The bell rang and he turned to find his own seat, but Shizuka put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Wait! Why don't you sit here?" she asked, removing her hand and pointing to the desk in front of hers.

"Because that's my seat," came another voice. A black-haired girl put her knee on the chair, and dropped her own books on top of the desk. Shizuka frowned and shrunk back.

"Why is it yours?" Miyako asked, drawing the newcomer's attention. "You weren't there a second ago, you can't just push someone else out of the way!"

"There's no other empty seats near my friends," she replied, sitting down, and turning her back to them. Miyako started to stand up again, but Kiyoshi stopped her.

"No, it's fine, I'll go somewhere else," he said, running a hand through his short, light brown hair and starting to turn away again.

"Well what about here, then?" Shizuka said, turning behind her and putting a hand on the edge of that desk. The boy sitting there doodling on a piece of scrap paper looked up like a deer in headlights. Shizuka frowned again, sinking back down into her own seat with a sigh. Miyako wasn't about to give up just yet, though. She turned to the boy, studying him for a few seconds.

"I'll buy you a new sketchbook if you'll find a different seat," she said quickly. "A nice, fancy one. Pleeeeeease?"

The confused boy looked at her, then took a quick glance around the room. Then he whipped out a photo and held it out to Miyako. "If you're serious, buy me this and you've got a deal."

Miyako stared, caught off guard by the action. She hadn't expected him to have a picture of exactly what he wanted. She took the photo and held it out. Ryo and Ren, previously distracted with each other until the bell sounded, caught sight of the act, and leaned in to get a better view, while Shizuka poked her head over it upside-down, blocking the light. Miyako moved it slightly to the side. It was a sketchbook, all right. It didn't look like anything special, save the logo in the bottom-left corner. A brand name, maybe? _Why was he carrying this around?_ she thought.

"You got it," she said, slipping the photo into her bag.

The boy picked up his paper and stood. "I need it this weekend at the latest. For, uh, club. Yeah. Thanks." And with that, he walked away, settling down two rows back.

Miyako smiled at Kiyoshi and gestured to the now-empty desk. "There you are, now we're all close!"

"Oh, um, well thanks," he said sheepishly, settling down in his new home.

"Looks like we're short one Rui," Ren said, looking around the room.

"Okay, so we're almost all close."

"I wonder where the teacher is," Ryo whispered, facing forward again. "That was definitely the bell, wasn't it?"

"No, you're not hearing things," Ren said, feet now back up, this time on Miyako's desk. "The guy's probably so senile like every other teacher here that he got lost in the bathroom or something."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Maeda," said a voice from the back of the room.

The class collectively jumped, then turned to look for the source of the voice. Standing next to an empty desk was the balding male who Miyako previously thought was a sleeping student. Suddenly, as the rest of the class realized who the man was, the room became full of the sound of tapping feet, falling books, and scraping chairs as the students hastened into their seats. When the room finally became silent again, the bald man spoke, walking to the front of the room in the process.

"I like to get a small glimpse of the personalities of my students before my classes, and how they act when they think no authority figure is around. Please stand, Mr. Maeda. I think I'll give you the first question of the term before we all settle in."

* * *

 **Monday, April 6** **th** **, 2015 – After School**

 **Toukawa City – School Gates**

"I can't believe he quizzed me! On the first day! _In homeroom_! Seriously! Can you believe that guy?"

"Well, you _were_ pretty rude," Miyako said, chuckling.

"Ugh, I should know better than to look to you guys for support," Ren mumbled, arms crossed. As the trio passed through the school gates, he asked, "Did you get to talk to Shizuka during lunch? About the house?"

"Oh! Yes, I did. She's not very happy about Takara injecting himself into the plan–"

"None of us are," Ren interrupted, with a glare at Ryo.

"–but she said if she can get Kiyoshi to do it too, then she's in."

"Excellent," Ryo smiled. "Now I believe we just need a roommate to share with Takara. I think two to a room would be reasonable. Ren, did you talk to Rui?"

"Yeah, she's all for it. I don't think she'll want to stay with Takara _or_ Kiyoshi, though."

"How will the room arrangements work, anyway?" Miyako asked. "I don't think it's fair to force Kiyoshi together with Takara, at least not without asking him about it."

"Ren and I will room together, of course," Ryo said, putting an arm around Ren, who grunted and shuffled ahead of them to get away. "I assumed you and Shizuka would bunk together. That would leave Takara with Kiyoshi, and Rui with… whoever else we get. It wouldn't really work any other way."

"Could we maybe just get the three of them their own rooms and not have an eighth person? Or just not tell Takara we found a place?"

"I suppose, but that's going to be more difficult. We'll need to find five bedrooms instead of four. Not to mention that, at least check, Rui only will do it with a roommate. Why don't we set aside Sunday and take a look at some options with everyone?"

"I honestly thought you of all people would be the most irritated with Takara butting in," Miyako said, not allowing him to change the topic. "I wish there was a way to exclude him politely."

"If I had known you two had objections beforehand, I wouldn't have told him the plan. As it is, why did you not speak up when I asked?"

"Because he was standing right there!" Miyako shrieked. "I mean, I feel bad for not wanting him around, but he's so arrogant! But still, I don't want to be rude. He's still a person with feelings, and I have manners."

"Well, nothing to be done about it now. So, about Sunday?"

Miyako rolled her eyes and picked up her pace. She had a sketchbook to try to hunt down, after all.

* * *

 **Sunday, April 12** **th** **, 2015 – Morning**

 **Toukawa City – Toukawa Mall, Food Court**

"Well I found one, but I don't know if you're going to like it."

Somehow, the entire group managed to get together. Miyako asked for the day off in order to meet her friends. Kiyoshi, as it turned out, did have a job as well – a shift manager at a local Junes – but didn't normally work Sundays anyway. Rui happened to work at the same Junes, which came as a surprise to everyone but Kiyoshi. He was able to use his influence to buy her the day off. No one else, it seemed, had a job or any other source of income, not counting Ryo's parents.

"Why won't we like it?" Shizuka asked hesitantly.

Before Ryo could answer, Ren blurted out, "It's haunted."

"Haunted?" Takara said skeptically. "Well, I'm in. Who else?"

The rest of the group sat in silence, looking curiously between each other for reactions and waiting for someone else to comment.

"Doesn't bother me," Kiyoshi finally said, surprising everyone.

"Really?" asked Miyako. "I wouldn't have thought you of all of us to be all spiritual. It's not very scientific."

"Not quite spiritual," he replied. "And I'm not really scientific, either."

"He's just a nerd," Ren teased. Miyako kicked him under the table, rather unsubtly.

"I just think it's interesting," Kiyoshi added, unfazed. "All this supernatural stuff, it's always kinda interested me." He shrugged and sat back, going silent again.

"Well I think it's terrifying," Shizuka spoke up. "Why do you say it's haunted?"

"Something about some previous owners disappearing in the basement or something." Ren shrugged and swiped Ryo's soda out of his hand, taking a sip for himself.

"Basement? In a small, private home?" Miyako asked. "That's not something you see every day."

"That's part of why people think it's haunted," Ryo said. "It just adds to the story."

The group sat in silence for several minutes. Miyako never believed much in the supernatural; at least, not in ghosts or hauntings. She pushed her deck of tarot cards out of her mind. That thought was replaced by the image of Igor, the long-nosed man from that blue spaceship. Miyako shook her head violently to clear that thought.

Ryo finally spoke up. "Well, that's a no from Miyako." She looked up in surprise, remembering where she was. "What's everyone else's thoughts? Who's up for checking it out?"

Takara immediately raised his hand. Kiyoshi hesitantly did the same. Seeing that, Shizuka raised hers as well. Ryo and Ren followed suit after that, then all eyes went to Miyako and the silent pink-haired girl next to her.

"Come on Rui, I'd have thought you would be the first to jump on this, not Takara or Kiyoshi." Ren fixed the pink-haired girl with a sharp gaze.

"Watching these things on TV is a lot different than living them," Rui replied seriously. She looked around the table. "But if everyone else is willing to check it out, then I'll go too." She turned to Miyako, her long bangs falling in front of her eyes.

She caved. "Oh okay, I guess it couldn't hurt to just look around…"

* * *

 **Notes: No, my other stories aren't officially dead. I just haven't been writing lately. But I haven't given up on them.**

 **At least until I started this. With P5 about a month away, and I've recently gotten into the series, I wanted to write my own. Updates will be about as slow as they have been, simply because I have no motivation right now.**

 **While I'm trying to keep things similar to how the games go, I'm not really too informed about Japanese culture. I'm basically looking up every little bit of information even relating to it, so if something is wrong, please don't hesitate to let me know. In regards to game mechanics, all I can say with certainty is that I'm not going to involve negotiation. Having played SMT, I think it's a fun addition, but I don't really feel it fits with the whole concept of Persona in general, or at the very least, my version of it.**

 **As with Sweet Sacrifice, this story actually started with a scene from much later on in the plot, but it obviously won't show up for a while. I do have enough for at least one more chapter, but I have a lot to think on regarding order and flow of events before I get that sorted. That said, I figured this was good enough for an introductory chapter, even though there's... well, almost no plot at all yet.**

 **I don't often care about reviews, but in the case of this first chapter, I'm open to opinions. Specifically, is it easy to keep up with? Did I introduce too many characters in one sitting? I know there's not a whole lot of description of them yet.**

 **Long note is long, so it ends now. I don't plan to end with notes on every chapter as I have been with my other stories, either, so hopefully this won't become a trend. If you read all this, then I hope you enjoyed.**


	2. Awakening

**Chapter 2 - Awakening**

 **Sunday, April 12, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **Toukawa City – Run-Down Dormitory**

"This isn't even a private home," Miyako said upon seeing the building Ryo had led the group to. "Why didn't you say we were looking into an actual dorm?"

"I just happened to pass by here," Ryo responded. "I investigated it, and as it turns out, it used to be a dormitory long ago, before they tore down the old school and built ours in its place. It's technically no longer school property, and no one is sure what to do with it. It's in a terrible place for a business, and no one really wants to live with a highway in their backyard. But I've checked and they're willing to rent out the land plot. We'll have to fix it up ourselves, though. And it's within short walking distance of the school."

"Who is 'they'?" Rui asked.

"The city, I guess. I just called the number on that sign on the mailbox."

Takara whistled. "We get a mailbox? Awesome."

"Why? Who are you getting mail from?" Ren demanded.

"I'll tell you when you're older," Takara replied, patting Ren on the head.

"I'm only what, like three days younger than you?" he fumed.

Rui stepped in before Takara could respond. "Boys, enough. Let's just go look around inside, okay?"

* * *

"How did I get stuck doing this?"

Takara turned to look towards Miyako. "Your straw was the shortest."

Miyako groaned, looking down the staircase. There was nothing but black darkness at the bottom, and she and Takara had been unable to find a light. The rest of the group was off inspecting the rest of the building; Rui, Kiyoshi, and Shizuka were busy looking around the ground level, while Ren and Ryo were checking out the two upper floors, leaving the basement for Miyako and Takara. "At least it's a staircase and not a ladder."

"Ladies first."

"Why me?" Miyako asked as she started down the stairs. "You were the first one to approve checking this place out."

"Cause if something _is_ down there, I'll get advanced warning."

Miyako stopped to turn and glare at him. "Coward."

"Believe me, I'd much rather have Kiyoshi down here. He doesn't put up a fight. Why didn't they let him come? He wanted to more than you."

"Because no one trusted you not to pick on him."

"I'm insulted," Takara said, crossing his arms. "You guys just can't take a joke."

"You're just not funny," Miyako countered. She reached the landing and pulled out her phone, searching for her flashlight app.

"It smells down here," Takara complained, sniffing the air. "I don't even think it's you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she screeched in reply, stopping to sniff her underarms.

"Nevermind. Just look for a light."

They spent several minutes looking around by the light of Miyako's flashlight. At one point, she was startled by a mirror, causing concerned voices from the floor above to check on them, but Miyako blew them off. They eventually did find a light switch, but more than half the lights were broken, so the illumination still wasn't good.

"Hey Miyako, come look at this," she heard Takara call several minutes later after they had split up to look around the room on their own. She turned to find him staring into an open door, but she couldn't see what was inside it.

"What is it, a closet? A bathroom?" she asked.

"I don't know," he retorted. "I can't see inside, even with the light."

Miyako considered the room. Even with the outside illumination, the interior was completely black and she couldn't see anything. Curious, but maybe the working lights were just at a slightly wrong angle. She aimed her phone's flashlight into the room. Said room remained completely dark.

"That's weird," she deadpanned.

"Why doesn't your light work?"

"I don't know… maybe it's just a large room and the light can't reach the end?" Miyako felt silly even as she said it.

"At this level? Not likely. Aim it at the floor," Takara said, trying to grab Miyako's phone and do it himself.

"Hey! Knock it off!" she cried, smacking him in the head with it instead. As he cursed and rubbed his forehead, Miyako aimed her light down. It formed a half-circle where the rooms intersected – the light brightened the wine-colored carpeting of the basement, but where the other half of the beam of light should be, there was nothing. Miyako knelt and lowered her head as close to the ground as she could to inspect it.

"That's so weird…"

"Well then, nothing left to do but go inside," Takara said.

Miyako stood back up and looked at him warily. "Inside? Maybe we should tell the others. This is really strange, I think it's worth mentioning. You think it has something to do with those haunting rumors?"

"Stop being a baby," the male replied, pushing her towards the entrance. She braced herself against the door frame.

"Why don't you go in, then?"

"Remember what I said before? Advance warning."

"Ugh. Okay, okay, stop pushing me already!" Takara released her and crossed his arms. Miyako stared into the blackness. She hesitantly raised her hand and poked a finger across the doorway.

Her finger disappeared. She pulled her arm back towards her and her finger reappeared. Confident enough that she wouldn't lose anything, she extended her arm and put her entire hand into the dark. Wiggling her fingers and twisting her arm around produced no unusual results that she could tell; she could still feel her hand. Takara looked at her eagerly.

"Well… here I go, I guess." Miyako took a small step forward, and hesitated. She bit her lip and looked back at Takara again, who rolled his eyes.

"Don't make me push you again. I'll do it."

Miyako took a deep breath, and slipped through the doorway.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, Miyako was greeted by a vibrant shade of blue. She had to blink several times before something started to come into focus, and she realized she was lying face-down on the floor. The carpet was very soft, but she couldn't remember how she got there. She thought she had been stepping through a door… and wasn't the carpet in the basement burgundy?

"Welcome back, honored guest."

The voice startled Miyako, and she scrambled reluctantly to her hands and knees – the carpet was very comfortable. Sure enough, as her vision returned, she realized she was back in the Velvet Room. The room appeared to be exactly the same as the last time she had been called here, right down to Igor and Scarlet, seated in the center of the room. Miyako forced herself to her feet, trying hard not to take her eyes off the pair, sitting patiently, observing her.

"Please, do have a seat," Scarlet said kindly, gesturing to the open space in front of her chair.

"Where?" Miyako asked, seeing nothing. Then suddenly, the desk and the chair had returned. Did she blink? They seemed to just appear there. "Oh." She cautiously walked up to the chair and inspected it, poking at it. It sure felt real enough.

"My, but you are a curious thing," Scarlet noted with a giggle.

 _Cautious is more accurate_ , Miyako thought, as she decided the chair was just a chair and sat down. To Igor, she said, "So, you live in this basement?"

Igor tilted his head, looking genuinely confused. "I reside here, in this room, as you are aware. Its shape is determined by its guest. I have brought you here to elaborate on what we discussed in our previous meeting."

"Something about a mystery, right?"

"That is correct."

"Why don't we start with how I got here."

Igor looked confused again. "Please, do not be alarmed. I have brought you here in your dreams, just as in our previous encounter."

"But I was awake! Just before I got here, I was walking through a door…"

"Yes, you did. You are currently asleep on the other side."

Miyako's gaze turned suspicious. "I don't remember anything, though. I walked into the darkness and suddenly I was on your carpet."

"You are not prepared for what you are about to face. That is why we have called you here. Our job is to assist our guests, special individuals such as yourself."

Skeptical, Miyako asked, "And… what makes me so special? I don't have any real talents or skills."

"Oh, but you do," Scarlet spoke up. "You are most special indeed."

Miyako looked quizzically at her, noting the heavy tome in her arms for the first time, but returned her attention to Igor as he spoke. "You will see quite soon."

"Okay… and you said you're here to help me? So… what exactly is it that you do?"

Igor chuckled. "I cannot quite elaborate on that just yet. As you know from our previous encounter, the Velvet Room is only able to aid those who have entered into a contract of some sort. You have not yet done so, but the time is now close."

"Yeah, I remember…" So, he had called her here to elaborate, but was unable to elaborate. Miyako was beginning to wonder what Igor considered the definition of 'help' to be. Instead of asking anything she really wanted to ask – just what sort of contract she was going to be signing, or how Igor seemed to know about it, or why he was so sure she'd be a willing participant – she asked, "So if you can't help me or even tell me how you plan to help me, why exactly did you bring me here?"

"We have brought you here simply to offer you reassurance," Scarlet replied. "Though there is nothing we can do as of yet, you are about to experience something beyond your wildest imagination."

"You mean like waking up in a blue spaceship?"

Scarlet merely grinned and continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "When you awaken, please remember this: a little fear is healthy and can be a great ally, but you must do your best to control it. Do not let it control you."

As Miyako tried to process what _that_ could possibly mean, Igor produced a key from… somewhere... with a wave of his hand. That's as best as Miyako could describe it – he simply waved his hand and suddenly a blue key was there. Snatching it out of the air in front of him, he set it on the desk and slid it to Miyako. "It is likely that you have many questions. When you are ready, we will be able to provide you with the answers you seek. When next we meet, it will be at a time of your choosing. At that time, you will need this."

Just like the rest of the room, the key was a deep blue color, but other than that it looked like an ordinary key. Perhaps slightly larger. Miyako picked it up, then realized she had no place to store it. She looked around the room, hoping a purse or something might spring into existence, but no such luck. She picked a bad day to wear a skirt, apparently. Not that the leggings she normally wore had big pockets, but they could hold something this size. Probably. Maybe. Perhaps it would just magically disappear and reappear whenever she needed it? She waited a few moments, but no such luck.

Seeing no other option, she slid her hand down the front of her shirt, tucking the key in her bra. She hated using it as storage, but the only other choice she could see was to carry it in her hand. She looked back towards Igor and Scarlet, her face red. Igor seemed oblivious to her embarrassment, but Scarlet was now staring at her chest, with the strangest look of fascination on her face. Miyako tried to catch her attention. "So, what lock does this key fit? Where is it?"

"You will know it when the time comes," Igor replied, as helpful as ever. He made a steeple gesture with his hands, as he often did when they weren't in motion making things appear or disappear at will. "But for now, I do believe it is time for us to part ways. The time is near for you to awaken to your power."

Scarlet was looking at her properly again, barely concealing her excitement. "I look forward to seeing how your journey takes shape."

"Thanks, I guess?" Miyako said as the room started to dissolve in a blue light, but her voice was distorted. She couldn't tell if either Igor or Scarlet had heard her. Miyako stared at them until they too were lost in the blue light.

* * *

 **Sunday, April 12, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **?**

The next thing she knew was the feeling of someone falling on top of her as she lay face-down on cold, hard stone – she immediately missed the soft carpet. The force knocked the breath out of her, and something jabbed her sharply in the chest. She rolled over, pushing whoever was on top of her off to the side, while clawing at her chest and feeling something that definitely didn't belong. She barely recognized Takara as she reached into her shirt and pulled out a familiar looking blue key.

"Where the hell are we?" she heard Takara say, but she didn't answer, too transfixed by the blue key in her hand to look around.

"So it really wasn't a dream then?" she asked no one in particular, turning the key over in her hand.

"What dream?" Takara asked. "What is that? What's going on?"

Miyako turned her back to Takara and tucked the key away in its previous location. Then, confident enough that it wouldn't jab her again now that she knew it was there for real, she looked around.

The hallway looked to be made of stone, ancient and faintly yellow. Dust was everywhere, along the floor, in the air, and resting on the torch blazers that lined the passage. Every other one was lit. There seemed to be two directions only, no branching paths that she could tell. She had no idea, however, where she came in from; the wall behind her was solid rock.

She started to panic, breathing heavily until the dust in the air made her cough. She tried to breathe slowly through the sleeve of her shirt, with difficulty due to it being very short. She put a hand on the rock and quickly withdrew; the stone was cold to the touch, and very solid.

"Takara… what happened?"

"What do you mean? How should I know? I asked first!"

"I mean, after I left. After I went through the doorway. What happened?"

"Nothing," Takara replied. "You just disappeared. I couldn't hear you or see you or anything. I tried calling your name but you didn't answer. So I followed you in."

Apparently, he didn't have any trouble following her. "Why? Why didn't you go tell everyone else? Why didn't you go get help?"

Takara's smug grin turned into an embarrassed frown. "Well, I uh… I didn't mean to follow you. I did try to go tell everyone… but I stepped on your phone and slipped."

 _My phone!_ Miyako screamed internally. "I swear, if you broke it, I'm going to break your neck! Wait… I don't have my phone! Do you have yours?"

"Nope. Why do you think I was trying to use your light?"

"Figures… okay, what about the blue spaceship? I didn't see you there."

"What the hell are you talking about? You got a concussion or something?"

"So… you didn't see it? You didn't see the Velvet Room? Igor or Scarlet?"

Takara stared at her, looking genuinely concerned, which surprised Miyako. "No, I didn't see any velvet anything. Just this yellow rock. Are you sure you're feeling okay? I did just fall on you. You didn't hit your head?"

"No, I… I'm fine. I mean, as fine as I can be right now, I guess." That was interesting. So it seemed like others could enter the strange doorway, but so far only she had seen that strange room.

"If you say so." Takara crossed his arms and looked around. "So… what now?"

In reply, Miyako walked over to one of the torch blazers and lifted one up. She half expected one of the walls to slide away and reveal a hidden passage or something, but was let down when nothing happened. "I guess… we pick a direction and start walking. We're not going to find a way out by standing here, and it doesn't look like we'll be getting out the same way we came in."

"Which way?" Takara replied, looking down the hall.

Miyako was relieved that he seemed to have put his arrogance on a shelf for the moment, but that also made her worry. He was afraid. So was she, but they had to do _something_.

"This way," she said, holding the torch ahead of her and starting down the corridor.

* * *

"What do you think the guys are doing right now?" Takara asked as the pair continued walking. So far it had been a straight shot; a few twists and turns, but no branching hallways, which Miyako was very grateful for – should they have to turn around, they couldn't get lost. In fact, there was nothing noteworthy at all, barring the dust and spider webs. The lack of activity both calmed Miyako and made her nervous at the same time. Still, while she remained on edge, she'd found it easier to focus the longer they walked.

"I don't know," she answered. "They're probably looking for us… I hope none of them just walk into that room, though. They'll probably end up here just like us."

"Should we have waited there? What if they do come through? They'll be alone."

"It's not like we're expecting them. Besides, we aren't going to find a way out if we just sit around, on the chance that everyone else suddenly appears in front of us. And even if they did, we wouldn't know how to get them out anyway. It's better that we keep –"

"Shhh!" Takara said suddenly, ramming Miyako into a wall and covering her mouth. Startled, she struggled to get away and dropped her torch. Takara refused to let her go, and he was physically stronger than her. She did the only thing she could think of in her panic – she bit his finger.

He let go of her face with a hiss, but held his grip around her arm. Miyako choked out, "What do you think you're–"

"Quiet!" Takara hissed. Something about the urgency in his voice shut Miyako up. The pair stood silently pressed against the cold rock for several seconds, straining to hear but receiving nothing but the sound of Miyako's discarded torch.

Then, suddenly, Takara pointed down the hallway. "There! See it?"

"See… oh! It's… a cat?"

Indeed, a black cat was slowly walking down the hall towards them – or more specifically, towards the fire. Miyako beamed as Takara released his hold on her.

"Aww! He's so cute! Here, kitty, kitty…" She knelt down and held out her palm.

"What are you, stupid? We don't know anything about this place. That cat could be feral! Besides, black cats are bad luck!"

"I thought you weren't superstitious?" Miyako shot back, watching the feline. It paid them no mind, even as Miyako made hissing and purring sounds in its direction. It walked circles around the fallen torch, still crackling away on the ground. "No kitty, you shouldn't be near the fire." Miyako stood and started to walk towards the cat. "Here, let me…!"

The cat froze and hissed at her as she approached, its tail shooting straight into the air. Miyako halted mid-step, and Takara beckoned her back. She ignored him. But if the sudden aggression of the cat startled her, she wasn't prepared at all for what came next.

The cat stuck its paw into the torch and was immediately set ablaze. Miyako screamed and started to rush forward, but Takara caught her around the waist and held her back. "You moron, if you touch that you're just going to get burned too!"

"Water! We need to find it water!"

"Yeah, cause we've seen a whole lot of that in– what's it doing now?"

Miyako and Takara watched in confusion, then dread, as the fireball formed into a shape vaguely cat-like. Eyes appeared out of nowhere, and even little details like whiskers and claws began to take shape. Then the flames disappeared, leaving the black cat behind, twice the size it had been previously, and a horrible stench of burnt fur. With the flames gone, the only illumination came from the torches still along the wall. Miyako tried to take a step back but Takara still had a hold on her and they both fell to the ground.

The female screamed as the cat lunged at them, its black body glowing orange as though the fire were still burning inside of it. Takara scrambled out of the way and took off running back the way they came, but the animal landed on Miyako and pinned her down with its weight. Its breath reeked of smoke, remaindering her of a forest fire. It roared in her face and she swore she caught a glimpse of fire in the animal's throat.

Pushing didn't seem to affect the creature; it was simply too heavy. Instead, she swung her fists wildly, punching at the creature's face. It grumbled at her again, and almost managed to catch her fist in its fangs. Still, the girl's fists didn't seem to be affecting it, other than making it angry.

Up the hall came a cry of "Get the hell away from her!" before something forcefully hit the creature head-on and clattered to the ground; somewhere in her mind Miyako recognized the unlit torch. More immediate in her mind was the thought of _Great, I have to be rescued by Takara_. The force seemed to daze the fiery cat for a moment, so Miyako took the opportunity to punch it in the snout.

That was enough to make the cat recoil away long enough for Miyako to escape it, but not very far. She crawled backwards and pulled out the velvet key, the only weapon she had on her, holding it out in front of her like a sword as the creature bared its fangs and snarled again. Takara stared at her, mouth agape. "What are you doing? Run, you idiot!"

"Get away, or I'm warning you…" Miyako croaked, but couldn't think of a threat to complete her sentence. Her arm shook violently as she tried to scramble to her feet. Takara made to help her up just as the feline lunged again.

Miyako closed her eyes as she slashed wildly with the key, but even then, she saw the bright blue light erupt in front of her. At the same time, her body felt hot and she felt as though something had exploded out of it like dynamite. Whatever happened had enough force to throw her back against the ground, this time cracking her head hard.

She heard the fiery cat cry out, this time like a whine rather than a roar, followed by a large thud. The light and the pain both began to die down, so Miyako opened her eyes and struggled to see through what remained. It hurt to breathe, both due to the dust and the searing agony in her chest, but she forced herself into enough of an upright position to see down the hallway, her elbows protesting from the angle they now rested on the stone.

It must have been the cat creature that had made the cry of pain, because even though she was seeing stars from the collision between her head and the floor, she noticed it lying on its side, missing an entire leg which lay in flames directly in front of it. But to Miyako, that wasn't the most startling thing about the scene. That honor belonged to the figure that now stood between the cat and herself.

The creature strongly resembled some sort of bird, looking to Miyako like a sort of phoenix, or maybe a hawk. Or a falcon? She never was good at bird watching. The creature had bird-like talons and colorful red-, orange-, and green-feathered wings, but as it half-turned to look down at her, she saw a very human-looking female face framed by long, black hair. Atop her head rested a second head, this one decidedly more bird-like in appearance. She also had arms and hands and a featureless, but mostly human-looking upper body. Miyako probably would have laughed at the sight of the bird legs coming off the human body, were she not terrified of the creature. _Nephthys_. The name floated in her mind, and somehow, she knew it to be the name of the bird-human in front of her.

Nephthys carried some sort of staff tipped with a giant green jewel, which Miyako only noticed when the bird swung it at the cat creature, now standing on three legs and ready to pounce. The staff smacked the feline in the face and sent it reeling into a wall. Then, with a shrill bird-like screech, Nephthys's bird-head launched a fireball at the other monster. _Definitely a phoenix_ , Miyako thought. An explosion of flames and dust ensued, causing Miyako to cover her eyes with her arm. When it settled, Miyako just barely caught the sight of a puff of purplish smoke evaporating where the cat had been previously.

She felt a sudden wave of satisfaction that she knew wasn't her own, but didn't recognize it as belonging to Nephthys until the phoenix-woman turned to stare down at her with a grin, fists on her own waist as if posing like a superhero. Nephthys cocked her head and offered her staff to the girl. Miyako hesitantly took hold of it, but instead of handing it over as she had been expecting – for what reason, she hadn't even considered – the phoenix-woman heaved and lifted Miyako off the floor. She squealed a little in surprise, gripping the staff with both hands in an effort not to slip off.

She had only been lifted a foot or so in the air, though, and Nephthys set her down on her feet. Miyako hastily let go of the staff, then stumbled. Nephthys quickly caught her with the tail end of the staff and pushed the human back upright.

"Thanks," Miyako choked out, her voice raspy. A wave of relief rolled off Nephthys, who smiled down at her. Then a jolt of… something else, as Nephthys's heads snapped up, looking behind her back down the hallway. Miyako couldn't tell if it was anger, fear, surprise, or something different, but she didn't have time to question it. Miyako herself felt panicked at the sight of her protector – for at the moment, that's definitely what the phoenix-creature was – suddenly so defensive, but relaxed as she turned to see Takara, huddled against a wall, and looking petrified. She had completely forgotten he was even there.

"Are you okay?" Miyako asked as casually as she could muster.

Takara ogled her, but pointed at the phoenix. "Wh-what the _actual fuck_ is that?"

"That's Ne… Nep… I don't know how to pronounce it, actually." She felt a sharp prick of… offense, she thought, as Nephthys turned away from them, preening her feathers. "But she's safe, she won't hurt us. I think."

"What _is_ it?" Takara repeated. "And where did it come from?"

Miyako thought back to her discussion with Igor. Surely this had to have something to do with that he was talking about, so she assumed the answer was in front of her somewhere. With sudden inspiration, she held up the velvet key she had been clutching in her hand. It had left a thick imprint due to how hard she had been clutching it, but she wasn't bleeding or anything. In fact, the pain she felt in her chest when Nephthys appeared had gone, and even her head didn't hurt. She held up the key.

Nothing happened.

Takara continued simply staring at her, wide-eyed. Frustrated, Miyako shook the key, hoping something would happen. Still nothing. Nephthys looked up at the sound as she walked to the nearest wall and tapped it against the stone, hoping maybe a door might pop into existence, either one to reality or to the Velvet Room; she didn't really care at this point. She got neither.

"Ugh! I hoped this thing might be able to get us home. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner… it just occurred to me. I guess it didn't matter anyway though. It didn't work." She turned to Nephthys. "Do you know the way out of here?"

A small feeling of excitement welled up inside her, which she assumed belonged to the phoenix. Nephthys began to fly down the hallway, continuing in the direction Miyako and Takara had been moving previously, so she took that to be a good sign. The hallway was rather small for the bird, though, and her flying was clumsy, as she couldn't fly more than a few feet off the ground in this narrow space. Only then did Miyako realize just how large the phoenix was and how small the passage was. Still, she returned the key to her bra and followed the bird – _my Persona_ , she thought, the word appearing unbidden in her mind – down the hall. She only looked back at Takara once without comment before he sprinted after them.

They encountered a few more creatures along the hallway, which Nephthys took care of with relative ease. Most of them were more fiery cats, but they didn't seem to be immune to fire attacks against them, evidenced by the phoenix's constant fireballs. At one point, the phoenix passed Miyako her staff and resumed fighting purely with fire. Miyako had to wield it two-handed, but she could hold it. More than once she had to use it as the fire cats had taken to running underneath Nephthys's wings to charge at the humans instead. She had been knocked down every time, but the staff kept the cats from biting her long enough for Nephthys to pick them up and fling them away. Only once did they encounter anything – a bipedal salamander of some sort – that appeared to be completely unharmed by fire, but Nephthys managed to dispose of it purely with her physical strength, her talons literally ripping the creature to shreds.

"This is exhausting," Takara complained.

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Miyako said angrily as she picked herself up off the floor yet again. Her clothes had been torn in several places – thankfully not in any revealing spots, but she'd have to come up with a pretty good explanation for her parents – a few scrapes had started bleeding a little excessively, and she had lost count of the number of cats that had thrown her to the ground, so her back was sore. Even Nephthys appeared to be tiring as the trek wore on, her fireballs gradually shrinking in size and taking more of them to bring down the local wildlife.

"I'm hungry," Takara answered. "We haven't had food or water in hours."

"Suck it up," Miyako argued, not in the mood to act diplomatically. "I'm the one fighting off all these damn monsters while you just stand back and watch."

"I don't have a weapon. You do. And besides, that bird has been doing most of the fighting, not you."

Miyako glared at him with rage. He had a point – while she was getting in on the fighting action, she was only defending herself and Takara when necessary while Nephthys did the real fighting – but that only made her angrier. She considered giving him the staff and fighting hand to hand, but quickly decided that was the easiest way to get herself killed. She really didn't know how to fight after all, anyway.

It was to everyone's collective relief when Nephthys finally stopped in front of a doorway at the end of an otherwise dead-end passage. They had taken one branching path during the entire trip, but Miyako still wondered how her Persona knew which way to go. She looked at the doorway. It reminded her of the doorway from the basement, mostly because she couldn't see the other side, despite the flame on Nephthys's crest illuminating the rest of the area and should have lit up the inches in front of her, too. She also noticed what appeared to be hieroglyphs along the doorway's border. She didn't recall seeing those in the basement, but still somehow, she had a feeling this was where she needed to be.

Still, she had to ask. Miyako looked up at Nephthys, who was beaming with pride. "Will this take us home?"

Nephthys screeched in reply, and Miyako felt a surge of confidence that was very much not her own. The bird then burst into flames, sending Miyako and Takara jumping into the wall in shock. There was no heat, though, and the flames dispersed as quickly as they appeared, taking Nephthys with them.

"I guess she's not coming with us," Miyako said after a moment to catch her breath.

"Doesn't look like we're going anywhere anyway," said Takara, frustration and panic in his voice. Miyako looked in his direction to see his hand pressed up against the blackness. He knocked on it as if it were solid stone. The sound, though small, echoed throughout the corridor. "It's not even real. Your bird brought us to a dead end."

"What?" Miyako squealed, her own panic seeping in now. She shoved Takara out of the way and put her hand up to the wall. It went through seamlessly. At the same time, the strange hieroglyphs began to glow a hot white. Takara watched as Miyako pulled her hand back out and stuck it back in. "I don't seem to have a problem."

With Miyako's hand still in the wall, Takara tried again. His hand met the darkness like a wall once again. He tried moving it next to Miyako's hand with no result. Then, as his hand touched her wrist, his hand sank into the wall as though it was never there. He pulled his hand back out quickly. "Whoa… Does this mean only you can go in and out?"

A roar filled the hallway. They both spun around to see a pair of angry fire cats coming around the corner. They spotted the humans easily and charged.

"Let's go!" Miyako cried. She grabbed Takara's hand and dashed through the wall.

Takara's weight slowed them down – he wasn't expecting to be pulled forward – but they both fell through the doorway, landing on the wine-colored carpet on the other side. Miyako rolled over enough to look over her shoulder and screamed. She scrambled to stand up, but was knocked back down as Takara also noticed the flaming cats still charging towards them and tried to stand up also.

"How can we still see them?" Takara cried, his legs tangled with Miyako's.

She had the same question, but didn't have time to answer with anything but another scream before they lunged –

–and appeared to crash into an invisible wall.

Miyako stopped screaming as the confused cats rebounded and toppled each other over. She couldn't hear them, but they were very obviously roaring and slashing at the doorway. Realizing she seemed to be safe, Miyako calmed down slightly, and slowly got to her feet. Takara immediately dashed for a weapon, spotting a rake against a far wall. Miyako, meanwhile, walked up to the doorway. One of the cats sprang up on its hind legs, trying to bite her face, while the other one tried pushing the first out of the way to do the same. Curiously, Miyako knelt. The two cats followed, silently slashing the bottom of the doorway.

"They can still see us, too," she realized.

There was a sudden loud stomping sound and for a frenzied moment Miyako thought she could hear the fire cats again, but they remained firmly on their side of the doorway. The sound was coming from behind her, and she turned around just in time to see Ren barreling down the staircase, Rui on his heels.

"What's going on? Are you guys all right?" he demanded, then stopped as he took in the scene.

Rui stomped fearlessly over to where Takara stood with his rake. "What the _hell_ did you do to her?" she shouted. That was the only warning she gave before she grabbed the front of his shirt and punched him in the nose.

"Rui, wait!" Miyako called out belatedly, forcing herself to her feet. "He didn't do anything!"

"You can tell us, it's okay," Ren offered, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We'll make sure he doesn't do it again."

"What do you mean?" Rui asked, looking at Miyako.

"It's a long story," Miyako said, gesturing to her torn outfit, "but Takara didn't do this to me. I know it looks bad, but please, trust me. Look, look over there!" She pointed towards the dark doorway. Rui and Ren stepped up to it, confused.

"What about it?" Rui asked.

"Huh?" Miyako pushed her way through them, only to find that the two cats were no longer in sight. "Oh come on! They were there just a second ago!"

"We need to get you somewhere you can rest," Rui said, putting Miyako's arm around her shoulder. Miyako took that chance to collapse. Ren scrambled to lift her other arm and, ignoring Takara's cries about his bloody nose, the pair carried her back upstairs.

* * *

 **Previous update: March 23, 2017. This update: March 25, 2017.**

 **And thus ends what I've written so far. At least until that scene farther down the story.**

 **I guess people are actually reading this? Can't say I expected that, but cool. Thank you!**


	3. Demonstration

**Chapter 3 - Demonstration**

 **Sunday, April 12, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **Toukawa City – Run-Down Dormitory**

Ryo frowned down at Miyako from his place beside her on the floor of the dorm's lounge room where Rui and Shizuka were fussing over her wounds. "Okay, let me get this straight. Takara did not assault you. Rather, you went through the doorway, were transported to a blue space ship that only you could see, then to a stone corridor, where a giant bird that can breathe fire saved you from some giant black cats that can set _themselves_ on fire."

"Yes," Miyako tried to say, but her voice was hoarse and she wasn't sure anyone understood her. Now that she had calmed down, she realized just how bruised and exhausted she really was.

"You do realize how crazy you sound right now?"

"I do," she replied, nodding.

"The fact that she's defending Takara is enough for me," Rui noted, though her tone of voice suggested she still wasn't sure. "I don't doubt for a second she'd speak up if he did do this to her."

"She's telling you the truth," Takara said, alone in a corner, massaging his bleeding nose.

Ryo looked at him. "Just because she didn't rat you out doesn't mean I'm going to believe this ridiculous story. It's just not possible. What fantasy do you think we're living in? She must have just hit her head and had a dream."

"How do you explain her appearance?" Shizuka asked, frowning at the blood spots on her sweater. No one had any sort of bandages with them, so they took to using other articles of clothing to try to stem Miyako's bleeding.

"Then come and check it out for yourself!" Takara roared. "Maybe I'm not the most honest person, but I'm telling you, all of this really happened! Why don't you go down there and see for yourself?"

"No," Miyako groaned, trying to sit up. Shizuka gently pushed her back down. Miyako cleared her throat and tried to speak again. "No, Takara, you're joking. You were terrified! It's not safe. No one should go down there. This place is more than haunted. We should leave."

"I don't know… I'm still not convinced that Takara didn't do this." Ryo shifted his glasses. "Honestly, what possible explanation could there be otherwise?"

"Are you for real? Fine then, come with me, Ryo. I'll prove it."

"Takara, no!" Miyako cried, trying to sit up, but Takara had already stomped out of the room. She looked to Ryo, who had begun to follow him. "Ryo, stop, please don't go down there!"

Ryo only glanced back at her. "I want to see how he intends to prove himself. Don't worry, he's not going to trick me." He turned and continued walking. Ren, uncharacteristically silent, stood and followed.

Miyako tried to stand, her body burning from each open wound. The pain was made even worse when Shizuka pushed her back down again, but Miyako waved her away. "We have to follow them."

"No, you need to rest. I'll go," Rui said as Shizuka struggled to keep Miyako down. "If nothing else, I don't want to miss Ryo and Ren beating the snot out of him for hurting you."

"No, Rui, stop! Why won't any of you just listen to me?! I'm the only one who can leave."

"What do you mean?"

"That… that place," Miyako said. Shizuka stopped fighting with her and let her sit upright. "I think anyone can go inside, but Takara tried to get out and couldn't. It was just a wall for him. But I can pass through it. If they go in there, they might not be able to get back out without me."

Rui glanced at Shizuka. She in turn looked to Kiyoshi, who shrugged. "We could all go," he suggested.

"Too dangerous," Miyako replied, holding out her hand. Shizuka stood up and helped her up.

Rui stomped her foot impatiently. "We'll fight about it later, let's go."

* * *

By the time the four of them got to the basement, Takara, Ren, and Ryo were nowhere in sight.

"They must have already gone through," Miyako groaned, removing her arm from around Shizuka's shoulder and dragging her feet as she walked to the doorway.

"Miyako, wait," Shizuka said, walking right behind her. "You look exhausted. Whatever happened to you, it looks like it really drained you."

"It doesn't matter, we don't have time for this. Tired or not, I'm the only one that we know of that can get out of there without any problem. They might need me."

"Why don't we give them a few minutes?" Kiyoshi spoke up, standing from where he had been kneeling to inspect the doorway. "Let them try to get out. If they don't, then maybe –"

Miyako interrupted, "Because it took hours to reach the exit and the longer we wait –"

"Hours?" Rui looked at her, confused. "You and Takara weren't down here for more than ten minutes at the most, and that's being generous."

Miyako turned to her. "No, that's impossible. It took ten minutes just fighting off that first cat monster." Okay, maybe she was exaggerating a little, but now wasn't the time to be picky.

"I'm telling you, you weren't gone for long." Rui crossed her arms, her expression one of concern. Shizuka and Kiyoshi nodded.

"And I'm telling _you_ , and the blisters on my feet can confirm, we were walking in there for at least two hours!"

The group fell silent for a minute, looking at each other. Miyako turned to the doorway. "Well even if it felt like minutes for you and hours for me, if it works the same, they should have been back by now, right? Assuming Takara remembers where the exit was. For all we know, hours could have passed for them by now and they're just waiting for me to come in and get them out."

"Miyako, I really don't think it's a good idea for you to go back in there," Shizuka started, ignoring the time dilemma completely. "If… if what you say is real, and you're so tired and beaten up already…"

"I'll go with her," Rui said. "You two stay here and wait for us. That way we're not risking everyone, and Miyako will still have someone protecting her."

Kiyoshi started to ask, "What do we do if –"

"I don't _need_ protection," Miyako argued, shouting over him in desperation. "You all do. I can… I mean, I have this power, and I can use it to fight the cat things in there!" Rui looked as though she were about to comment, but Miyako continued. "Guys, the longer we argue about this, the longer they're in danger in that place."

* * *

 **Sunday, April 12, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **?**

"Okay, well this is… weird," Rui stated, looking around.

Miyako first noted that they seemed to appear in the same location she and Takara had on their first visit. She skipped the Velvet Room detour this time, it seemed. There was also still no exit to indicate where they came in from. And she had forgotten to check the doorway in the basement for hieroglyphs. _And_ pick up her phone.

"I hoped this wouldn't be a regular occurrence," she groaned. "It's so far to the door."

Rui crossed her arms. "Regular occurrence? What, are you planning on coming back here after we find the boys?"

"No," Miyako replied. She wasn't quite sure what she had meant; of course she wouldn't be coming back here.

With Miyako not continuing, Rui said, "Well, it looks like you were honest about the door, anyway. So show me this giant bird."

"Oh, okay." Miyako wasn't sure how to even summon Nephthys to her. She remembered she had been holding her velvet key the last time, so she pulled it out from her hiding place, much less self-conscious in front of another girl. She held it out in front of her and, hoping she was pronouncing it correctly, shouted, "Nephthys!"

Nothing happened.

"Pardon me?" Rui asked.

"That's what she's called," Miyako responded. "But I'm not really sure how to summon her. Hold on, let me try again."

Again, she held the key out, this time waving it in the air wildly. "Persona!" she cried. Again, nothing happened.

Rui continued watching her skeptically as she turned, frustrated and embarrassed. "I don't get it," Miyako said sadly, dropping her arm. "It was something like that last time. I mean I didn't call her, obviously. But… it's weird, I think I can… feel her, somehow, in my mind. I know she's there, I just… don't know how to get her to come out."

Rui shrugged and started walking. "I guess guys aren't the only ones with performance issues."

Miyako's face flushed. "Wh-what is that supposed to mean?"

Rui just laughed at her. "Come on, let's just go find the guys."

* * *

"Look, there!" Miyako suddenly cried, pointing down the hall. She recognized the extinguished torch she and Takara had dropped earlier, but her attention was on something else. Further down the hallway, she spotted another black cat.

Unfortunately for the girls, Miyako's shout also attracted the beast's attention to them. It began to stalk towards them.

"It's just a black cat," Rui said. But before Miyako could correct her, the creature leapt up and swiped a paw through the flame of one of the lit torches, setting itself on fire just like the previous dozen or so that Miyako fought. Rui gasped and stepped back, but Miyako walked in front of her confidently, holding her key again.

"See? _See_? Okay, now she just has to come out! Nephthys!"

Nothing.

Miyako grumbled as the fiery cat started growling. Rui began to panic. "Uh… it's coming this way…"

"It's okay! I-I got this!" Miyako replied. "Persona!"

Once again, nothing happened. Miyako began to stumble back as the fiery cat charged.

"Oh come on, what do I gotta do!" she screamed, closing her eyes in anticipation and waving the key madly.

She heard Rui scream before she felt the heat on her arm, and she felt the heat before the teeth. She was dragged down as the cat landed and spun, its fangs stuck in her arm. She hit the ground hard, but the pain of that was nothing compared to the burning of the fire in her arm. The creature hadn't appeared to start spitting fire either; the pain was simply from the heat radiating off its fangs.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rui turn and run. The fire cat tried to follow the sound of her footsteps, but with Miyako's arm in its mouth, it couldn't turn its head all the way. In a fit of panic, Miyako took the chance to try to punch it.

As she swung her free arm at it, the key she still grasped began to glow. Less than a second later, the blue light formed into a shape, smacking away the cat and tearing away some of Miyako's skin as it did so. She saw Rui stop and turn, but that was all, as her attention was focused more on her arm. Nephthys leaned her heads down to inspect the wound as well, before a roar caught her attention.

Miyako felt another surge of panic; she wasn't sure how she could tell Nephthys' from her own, but there it was. The feeling caused her to look up in time to see the flaming cat pounce in her direction. She was able to roll out of the way as it landed where she had fallen. As it turned to follow her, a small fireball exploded in front of it, drawing its attention.

Unfortunately, the cat must have assumed the attack had come from Rui, standing now behind Nephthys looking horrified, as it charged right under the phoenix and at her instead. Rui cursed and started running again.

"No! Nephthys!" Miyako cried, but even before she finished the thought, the great bird was flying down the corridor, knocking the cat against a wall with her staff. It exploded into purple smoke upon contact.

Nephthys landed, albeit a bit more clumsy than usual, and cast a quick, curious glance towards Rui before turning and waddling back towards Miyako, still sprawled out on the ground, arm bleeding anew. Miyako called Rui over to them in a strained voice. "It's okay, she's… she's the phoenix I mentioned before. She's mine."

"I… wow. I'm speechless right now."

Nephthys briefly posed, beaming with pride, before dropping her arms and turning her gaze back to the brunette on the floor. Eyes stinging, Miyako looked up at her Persona, trying not to cry too much. "You're still tired too, huh?" While her Persona didn't seem to be lacking in strength, the fireball wasn't anywhere near the size of the ones she had first been producing, and she seemed more sluggish than previously.

Nephthys tilted her heads as if considering the question, but otherwise did not respond. Rui moved to help Miyako to her feet, still cradling her burning arm. The phoenix-woman again leaned in. Miyako held up her arm so she could better see.

And Nephthys jabbed it with her staff.

"Ouch, what the –?" Miyako screamed, pulling her arm back and causing Rui to scream and jump backwards. "That hurt, don't _do_ that!"

Nephthys tilted her heads in the opposite direction.

Miyako sighed. "This is bad… She's tired. I'd hoped she'd be rested or something by now after I left, but if she's still this tired, getting to the exit is going to be really hard."

"Well, what can I do?" Rui asked. "How can I help? I'm not tired or hurt, so maybe I can fight too."

"With what?"

"I don't know. How hard is it to punch and kick, though, really?"

"Rui, this isn't –"

"I know, I know. But we have to keep moving now, don't we?" The pink-haired girl put an arm around Miyako's waist. "Whether we find the guys or not, there's only one exit, and we're not going to reach it by standing here."

"Just promise me you won't do anything reckless."

" _Fiiine_."

* * *

"And _stay_ down, suckah!" Rui shouted as she drop-kicked the lizard's head in. The defeated creature burst into purple vapor, as usual. The monster wasn't very fast, and though it was taller than Rui when standing at full height, she had managed to trip it up and curb-stomp it while Nephthys watched with intense amusement, much to Miyako's dread.

"I just told you –" Miyako started, but Rui cut her off.

"You and I have different definitions of 'reckless'. That was nothing. And look what I found in the smoke!" She held up a small, sparkling vial, shaped like a teardrop. "I wonder if it's valuable. It looks like a diamond. I bet Shizuka would like it, it would make a good earring."

Miyako leaned closer, careful not to get blood on Rui's remaining clean clothes. "There's something inside it," she noted. She couldn't tell what, but inside of the item was something swirling around, looking half-liquid and half-gas. She felt an abrupt burst of excitement that she couldn't explain, until Nephthys came hovering over her shoulder. She tapped Rui's hand with the tip of her staff, then pointed it at Miyako in a clear "give it to her" gesture.

Rui handed over the vial, which Miyako held up higher for her Persona to inspect. Nephthys apparently knew exactly what it was, however, again pointing with her staff at the vial, and then at Miyako. "Yes, I have it… what do I do with it now?" she asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

A quick eye-roll, then the bird tapped the top of the vial. "Oh," Rui exclaimed. "The top part comes off, look." She reached out and pulled on the thin end of the vial. It came apart seamlessly. The two girls looked expectantly up towards the Persona, who repeated her pointing.

"You want me to drink this, don't you?"

She could tell just by Nephthys' grin that she very much wanted that. "Yeah, I was afraid of that. Right from the minute I saw this… whatever's inside here. That was because of you, wasn't it? I can feel what you're feeling."

"Really?" Rui questioned as the phoenix again tilted her heads.

"Yeah, it's weird… I get these random emotions on top of my own that don't match how I feel, and I just… _know_ they're coming from her. Kinda like how I could feel her inside me before even though I couldn't summon her. Which reminds me… why didn't you show up when I first called you, huh?"

Nephthys impatiently tapped at the vial again.

"I don't know," Miyako sighed, frowning again at the vial. "Is this safe for humans? What is it?"

Rui sniffed it. "Smells okay. I mean, it smells like nothing. Like water. Kinda looks like clear, watered-down syrup."

"It came out of a dead lizard. It might be blood, or…" Miyako really didn't want to finish that thought.

"Well your bird seems to think it's okay," Rui responded. "And isn't she like a part of you now or something? She wouldn't want you to drink it if it would kill you."

Nephthys grinned and patted Rui on the head. The pink-haired girl recoiled awkwardly at the contact.

"Okay, fine, I guess." Miyako sniffed at the vial herself, if for no other reason than to procrastinate. Feeling the eyes of her Persona boring in on her, she took a deep breath and downed the vial's contents like a shot.

Almost immediately, Nephthys stopped sagging, standing up straight and spreading her wings to stretch. At the same time, Miyako gagged, coughing a bit, before looking up at Rui wide-eyed. "Wow. I feel better."

"Better? Better how?"

"Less tired, at least. It's like… it's like instant coffee, but much more gross. I just feel like I have a little more energy all of a sudden."

She had no word to describe the I-told-you-so feeling that was practically rolling off her Persona in waves.

Rui clasped her hands together. "Awesome, so lizard water is a positive."

"Never call it that again."

"Whatever you say," Rui grinned, patting Miyako lightly on the back. "Come on, let's keep moving."

* * *

"Well, this is it."

After what felt to Miyako like half a day's worth of walking and fighting, Nephthys successfully lead them back to the hieroglyph doorway. The energy she'd gained had been drained quickly, as Nephthys had tried to rush them through to the exit as quickly as possible, and in doing so, bombarded any wandering fire cats with fireballs to clear them out of the way. Miyako began to suspect that using those fire attacks was what drained her Persona, and by extension, herself, of energy. Eventually, she began failing to produce any fire at all, barring the one on her crest, and had resorted to letting Rui help fight hand-to-hand. Rui had earned some scrapes and bruises, but she had handled herself much better than Miyako had during her first visit, which didn't help the brunette's already sour mood.

Still, the end of the road was a disappointment. "Where are the boys?" Rui wondered. "Could they have gone back home already?"

"I doubt it. Takara couldn't get through here last time, remember? They either went down the wrong branch on that single one we passed, or went the complete opposite direction when they first got here. Takara, you bloody _idiot_!"

"Well what if… we just went and checked? Just in case?"

"What, you mean go back through here to the dorms?" Miyako asked. "No, I know he couldn't get through. If we did, and we had to come back for them again, we'd have to do all of that walking _again_. You're just trying to get me to go through and rest."

Rui looked guilty at being read so easily for a split second, then made a stern expression. "You're wiped. Nephthys, is it? She's so tired she can't even make fireballs anymore. And… well, I'm not doing so great either."

"I told you we were in here for hours."

"Let's not start with the I-told-you-so's, huh?" Rui groaned.

Miyako almost responded "Too late" but decided against it. She remained silent, instead.

"Okay, look. You're tired. I'm tired. Your bird is tired. Let's say we continue looking. We're talking another hour backwards to that branching path, also assuming they didn't go the other way right from the beginning, and _then_ another hour back here, and that's assuming we do find them, _and_ assuming they're not in any trouble, and –"

"And what if they are?" Miyako shouted over her. "I can't just leave Ryo and Ren in here to get eaten or whatever by these cat monsters! Or Takara. He's a pain, but that's horrible. So what if they are in trouble? Are we just going to walk out and let them –"

"What are you gonna do, then?" Rui countered. "If they're in trouble, what can you do right now to help them? You can barely stand, you're so tired. Let's say you really are the only one who can get us out of here. What happens if we find them and you die or get hurt while trying to save them? How will the rest of us get home then, huh?"

"I won't, I'll –"

"You can't know that, so don't even try it." Rui's expression softened slightly, and she tried to lower her voice, but Miyako could tell she was running out of patience too. "Look, we're in no condition to help them right now. If they're in trouble, us going and leaping into that trouble isn't going to help, it's going to make things worse. There is nothing we can do right now. We… we should go back home and sleep and come back…" She hesitated, considering when would be an appropriate time. Would one day be enough rest for Miyako? "We'll come back tomorrow and look around more. Okay?"

Rui held out her hand. Miyako only stared at it for a moment, then turned to address Nephthys. "What do you think? Is that a good… dammit, where did you go?"

The girls looked up the hallway, but they were alone. Nephthys had disappeared.

"Can you still… feel her or whatever?"

After a beat, Miyako replied, "Yeah, I do." _Good enough_ , she thought.

With another look down the hallway, Rui put out her hand again. "Come on, Miyako, let's go home. Ren's not as tough as he pretends to be, but he's still pretty tough. And Ryo's really smart. And Takara… well, he can run really fast. They'll be fine. We'll be back as soon as school is out tomorrow, okay?"

"Ugh, I do _not_ want to think about school right now," Miyako groaned. "Okay, fine. I give." She took Rui's hand. "But if anything happens to any of them, it's on you."

Rui frowned, annoyed that Miyako wouldn't just give it a rest. "Fine. So be it. I can't do anything for them right now, so my conscience is clear. At least I'm making sure to help the one person I'm actually able to right now at this very moment."

As Rui turned towards the wall, Miyako pulled her hand free. The pink-haired girl turned to argue, but Miyako pointed towards the wall.

"Try going through alone first. Takara couldn't. I want to see if it's just me."

"Oh no, I'm _not_ falling for that."

"Just stick your hand in," Miyako groaned, exasperated. "If you can, great, I'll take your hand and go with you. If not, then at least we'll know, and I'll let us out."

Rui looked at her suspiciously for a moment, then placed a hand gently on the black wall. It remained solid, and she gave a hard shove on it just to be sure. She turned back to Miyako and held her hand out.

Miyako didn't move.

"Okay, _damn_! You were right! Only you can take people out. Fine. I got it. Can we freakin' go already?"

Satisfied, Miyako grasped Rui's extended hand and dragged her through the doorway.

* * *

 **Sunday, April 12, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **Toukawa City – Run-Down Dormitory**

Kiyoshi knelt by the doorway again as soon as Miyako and Rui disappeared through it, inspecting the carpet where the light disappeared. "That's messed up," he said, more to himself than to Shizuka, after he watched the girls literally vanish.

Shizuka knelt down beside him. "Maybe we –"

She was cut off as she and Kiyoshi each got a knee to the face. The pair cried out and tumbled backwards as something tripped and fell straight over them.

"What the hell?" Kiyoshi cried, rolling onto his side, and clutching his nose. He spotted Shizuka rolling to face him and doing the same with her forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Lucky this place is carpeted," the redhead replied. "But I really hope I never feel my neck snap backwards like that again. You?"

"Same."

The pair scrambled into a sitting position and turned to see what had hit them. On the floor behind them lay Miyako and Rui, looking decidedly more injured than they did only seconds ago.

"That was fast," Shizuka noted aloud, alarmed to see that Rui had suddenly gained a few bloody scrapes. "You're hurt, Rui. Where are the guys? What happened?"

The two injured girls collected themselves with slight difficulty, and turned to face the other pair. Rui answered, "Miyako was _right_." Then, with a very sour glare at the other girl, she stood up and stomped up the stairs, ignoring Shizuka calling her name.

"What was that about?" the redhead asked the remaining girl. Miyako, however, had passed out on the ground.

* * *

 **Monday, April 13, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **?**

Even as tired as she was, Miyako refused to postpone their return trip longer than necessary. She had returned home after leaving the basement and slept the remainder of Sunday away, stayed asleep throughout the night, _and_ most of the following day. Rui was quick to attack her about skipping school – apparently, she hadn't – but Miyako countered by pointing out that she still felt like she hadn't slept in weeks. The entire ordeal had drained her heavily, and she only wondered how Rui was still going, considering she did go to classes today. Though, Miyako considered, she only went through the hallway once. Either way, she vowed to never let anyone go in that doorway twice in one day again.

Rui hadn't gotten over her sour mood, either, which made the trek through the hallways even less pleasant. On the bright side, Miyako noted with a hint of envy, with Rui's temper, she held her own against the non-flammable monsters rather well. They had encountered fewer fire-cats this time around, and a few new creatures, including a mummy that was much too fast. Nephthys had neglected to pass Miyako her staff this time, instead favoring it as her main form of offense – she was still not quite rested either, preferring not to use her fire whenever possible. She had no qualms with letting Rui take on monsters on her own from time to time either. At least she was turning her temper into something productive, but Miyako still didn't like the idea of Rui throwing herself headlong into danger. There really wasn't anything she could do about it; Rui was refusing to talk to her today beyond necessary communication.

She really wished Rui had stayed with Shizuka back at the house – least of all because she didn't like the idea of Shizuka being there alone, since Kiyoshi had to work, but it was still on her list of reasons. But they had voted two-to-one against her going inside by herself, and so Shizuka stayed behind.

They reached the branching path and Rui took several steps down the new corridor before pausing and deciding better of it. She turned back to Miyako. "Well? Should we check this way or do you think they'd have waited at the doorway after this long?"

Miyako had to clear her throat before answering, giving her a second to think about it. "We could check the doorway and come back?"

"I'm not walking all that way for a dead end. I doubt Ren would be able to sit still for long. Takara either. Come on."

Miyako felt double the annoyance as Rui walked away – apparently, Nephthys was beginning to tire of the other girl's sour mood, too. The phoenix-woman prodded Miyako with her staff. "What do you want me to do?" she asked. "If she wants to be the group leader, let her. I'm too tired."

Nephthys pounded her chest in clear defiance.

"Yes, I know I'm the one with the giant protector. But she's been doing more fighting than you have," Miyako responded, beginning to follow Rui as she talked. "I thought you were letting her on purpose," she added in reply to the feeling of deep insult that her persona forced on her.

The phoenix crossed her arms and vanished in a very showoff-y blaze of flames.

Rather than worry over suddenly losing her valiant defender, Miyako's attention drifted to how to summon her persona back to her again. When she and Rui arrived for this trip, she had been terrified that the phoenix wouldn't appear until it was too late again, so the first thing she did was try to summon her. Nephthys appeared on the first try, and she had been shadowing Miyako the entire time up to this point. Was it random chance? Or was there a way to get control over her persona?

Several meters in front of her, Rui had stopped walking. The pink-haired girl turned to eye Miyako, now with no trace of her previous mood in her face. The other girl's hesitation struck Miyako's own nerves.

"Something wrong?" she asked, trying to sound casual.

"We might have a problem," Rui replied, gesturing behind her and stepping to the side.

Behind her was a wall – another dead end. This one, though, did not have a door, but rather a stone shelf – or maybe a table? – with a black book resting atop it.

"They probably went the other way at the beginning," Rui said with a heavy sigh, stepping around Miyako and starting back up the hallway. The brunette started to follow, but a sudden sense of urgency from Nephthys caused her to stop and call Rui back.

"Nephthys wants me to open the book," she told her by means of explanation.

"Uh… where is Nephthys, anyway?"

"In my, um… brain, I guess? Wherever she is when she's not here. I can still feel her."

"You really should keep her by your side while we're in here."

"Tell that to her."

Nephthys offered no sensation to show she was listening this time, so with a sigh, Miyako returned her attention to the black book on the stone table.

The pages, while clearly not made of traditional paper, were blank. The spine of the book, however, had symbols on it – symbols that Miyako couldn't read. She thought she recognized one or two from when she had seen the border of the doorway earlier, but she couldn't be sure without inspecting that again.

Nothing else about the book seemed noteworthy to her. Still, she could feel Nephthys' enthusiasm. Miyako flipped through the pages, looking for something – anything – but absolutely nothing stood out to her. She inspected the cover, both inside and out, front and back. She even turned the book upside-down and shook it, half expecting something to fall out of the pages. She wasn't rewarded.

"What, do you want me to draw in it?" Miyako demanded in frustration, slamming the book shut.

"Huh?"

Miyako turned to see Rui watching her, arms crossed. "I was talking to Nephthys. I don't know what she wants from me. There's nothing special about this book, but she's really excited to see it for some reason."

"Why don't you just ask… nevermind."

Miyako pulled out her key and swung it. "Nephthys, get out here!"

Nothing happened.

"Ugh, come on! I need answers here!"

"Why is she so stubborn?"

"She's not even resisting," Miyako answered. "I just can't get her to come out. But it feels like she wants to."

"Well, we don't have time to figure this out," Rui sighed. "Let's just go. Should we go home or try checking the other hallway?"

"Hold on," the brunette replied. "She's desperately trying to tell me something. I can feel it."

"Well, what is it?"

"I don't know."

Miyako looked at the book again. She started turning pages again, thinking maybe she missed something hidden in one of the center pages, but gave up halfway. The only noteworthy part of the book was the symbols on the side.

"Hey… what do you think this is?"

Rui stepped closer to inspect the markings. "Looks almost like hieroglyphics to me. Maybe the title of the book?"

"Can you read them?"

"Do I look like an archeologist?" the pink-haired girl replied.

"Well, maybe we can figure it out?" She paused, then added, "I think Nephthys would like that."

"Well, that's great for Nephthys," Rui complained. "Can she read it?"

Miyako felt something baring down on her. "I think you just insulted her."

"What the…? How?"

"How would you feel if someone asked if you knew how to read?" Miyako replied without thinking.

Rui ignored the implication. "So… that's a yes. So what does it say?"

"She can read it, not me."

"Then have her tell you what it says."

"She doesn't speak to me," Miyako replied, frustrated. "I only get feelings from her, not words. Remember the vial thing?"

"Then have her… I don't know, send you vibes, or images, or something."

"That's not how it works."

"How do you know?"

Miyako had no answer to that. She looked down at the book instead. "This feels like some sort of puzzle to me."

"What, like a game of some sort?"

"Something like that… hear me out. There's nothing special about this book except these markings, but for some reason my Persona is really interested in it. We're stuck in this weird maze-that's-not-very-hard, and there were symbols like this on the only exit."

"The only exit we know about," Rui added.

"That's true, I guess. But my point is, if this is a maze, why hasn't it been very challenging? Maybe this dead end is like… not really a dead end, but more like a roadblock. Maybe something's on the other side?"

"Or maybe the other path from the start leads into the real maze."

"Maybe."

"Who said this is a maze though, anyway? Look, Miyako, maybe you're right, but I don't know if I can handle going all the way back to the start and then looking down the other path right now."

"Are you saying you want to go back?" Miyako glared at her.

"Yes," Rui replied. "Don't start – I know what you're thinking. But we're no closer to finding the guys than we were yesterday, and don't try to tell me you're feeling energized."

Miyako groaned. "We can't just leave them here…"

"Do we have to go through this again?" Rui said, eyes rolling. "Let's go home and get some sleep. While we're at it, we can look up hieroglyphics and translate that book, and then tomorrow we can check out the other path. We'll be rested, and not have to walk all that way."

"As much as I want to argue… Nephthys agrees with you," Miyako answered, sounding defeated. "She feels pretty confident that they'll be okay until we return, though I don't know why. Why is it that I keep getting out-voted?"


	4. In the Pink

**Chapter 4 – In the Pink**

 **Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **Toukawa City – Shingen High School, Library**

"Guys, I have to work tonight, how long is this gonna take?" Kiyoshi asked, uncomfortable with the three girls hovering over him.

"Not too long, I promise!" Rui replied. "Besides, you're the smartest one here, you'll be able to translate this easy!"

"I think the others' safety is a little more important than your English homework," Miyako added hesitantly, piling up his books to the side, though it didn't seem to ease Kiyoshi's nerves. He continued looking around the room as though expecting someone else to join their table. "Are you… expecting someone?"

"No," he replied lamely. "It's just… well, everyone's staring. It's making me uncomfortable."

"Why's that?"

Kiyoshi sighed, then looked away as though he didn't want to reveal what he was about to. "I usually study here alone. I think they're… well, I don't really see other people, and now I have three girls sitting here. You guys are drawing attention."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Rui grinned. "Now people will think you're good with the ladies!"

Kiyoshi sank down in his seat.

"Okay, just ignore them, then," Miyako said gently. "Let's just focus on getting this done. Where do we start?"

"Look, just because I enjoy Egyptian mythology doesn't make me an expert in hieroglyphics…"

"So, these are real?"

"I… I think so? I'm not sure, but they look real, and I do think I recognize some."

"Well, that's why we're here!" Rui exclaimed. "We'll look it up."

Several whispers of " _shhhh_!" echoed from neighboring tables.

"Shame the school couldn't afford computers in here," Shizuka noted after whispering hushed apologies, while Kiyoshi went to ask about translation books.

"Oh please, you love to read," countered the pink-haired girl.

Shizuka looked affronted. "Well… yes, but… they would make this a lot easier, wouldn't they?"

"Oh. I guess so."

The trio sat in silence after that, inspecting the rest of the room, until Kiyoshi returned with two thick textbooks. Miyako leaned in to see the covers. "Well, there's no translation books," Kiyoshi said. "Sumiko-senpai said we might find some minor articles or small sections in one of these books, but I don't think they're going to be much help for what we need to do."

Miyako sighed. "Well… we'd better get started."

"Yeah, you do that," Rui said, pulling out her phone. "I'm gonna check the Internet."

* * *

"I think there's two words here," Kiyoshi said, a few hours later. "My best guesses based on what we've been able to find would be… 'gateway' and 'awaken'… or something similar."

"What could that mean?" Rui asked.

A faint memory stirred in Miyako's mind. "Wasn't there some American sci-fi show years ago about a gateway that was related to Egyptian gods? Could that be real?"

"I'm not really up to date on American television," Kiyoshi groaned, giving her a glare. Miyako pouted.

"You can look into that, Miyako," Rui said. "But what if those words are supposed to be used together? Like… 'awaken gateway' or something?"

"Odd title for a book," Shizuka noted.

"Yes, but it might fit our situation," Miyako said. "I mean… maybe it has nothing to do with the book itself, but it's just a clue of some sort."

"How do you mean?" asked Rui.

"Think about where we found the book. In a dead end. But maybe it's not really a dead end. Maybe there's some sort of hidden door or something that we have to find or open to proceed. Assuming the boys went the same way when they arrived – which is what we've been assuming anyway since I would hope Takara would try to reach the exit – they may have found a way to pass that wall."

"Interesting theory," Kiyoshi said, though he was so quiet that Miyako wondered if he were speaking more to himself than in answer to her working theory.

Rui added, "But don't forget, we haven't explored the other direction yet. They could have just as easily taken that path."

Miyako shook her head, determined that she was onto something. "No, I don't think so. If we enter at the same location each time, then taking the other hallway right at the start would lead them away from the exit door, and Takara knows where that is, so I don't think they'd go that way. I hope."

"But Takara's an arrogant fool," Rui reminded her.

"True, but Ryo's with him. And Ryo's _not_ a fool. He wouldn't let Takara lead them the wrong way. Just like you and I, Ryo knows that Takara knows where the exit was. Logically, that would mean that Ryo would make Takara take them to it. And once they reached the dead end, they might have tried to look for another exit, thus taking them to this area."

"But, wait," Shizuka interrupted. "Didn't you say there was another path right when you started? Why would you think they'd come to this dead end and not that way?"

"Because this way was closer to the real exit."

"You've been spending too much time with Ryo," Rui laughed. "That was… very _logical_ , indeed."

"I… guess it has rubbed off a little bit," Miyako said, embarrassed.

"Well, it's a start," Shizuka said. "How do we test it?"

"Just go back to that dead end and look around, I guess?"

"And just like that, the logic is gone." Rui sighed. "Oh well. Up for a trip now?"

"You guys can go," Kiyoshi said, standing up. "I'm already late for work, so I'd better go before I get fired. I wonder if I can find time to try to do some of this homework while I'm there…"

* * *

 **Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - Evening**

 **?**

"Well… which way?" Rui asked.

Miyako looked at her curiously, shifting the heavy black book in her arms. "I thought we'd agreed to go back to check out the dead end. Besides, my other self wants us to go back."

"Okay… but one of these trips, we need to go down this other tunnel. I'm dying to know what's over that way."

"Please don't ever use the word 'dying' in here…"

"So how do you think the boys got passed the gateway?" Rui asked as they started walking.

"If I knew that, why would we have had to go to the library yesterday?" Miyako replied, already feeling annoyed. Was this trip going to end up like the last? Why did she feel so much more easily irritated in here? Did that have something to do with Nephthys? She decided to try to soften her words. "They have Ryo with them. He's smart. I bet this puzzle was easy mode for him."

"But that's not towards the exit, Takara knows that. Even if Ryo did figure it out, why would they continue?"

"I dunno… looking for another exit?" Miyako sighed. "Look, Rui, I know you're just trying to be polite, but this is getting us nowhere. I don't know any more than you do, and talking about it isn't going to solve that, so… so, please…"

"Fine. I'll shut up. Let's go." Rui stomped off.

"Wait, Rui!" Miyako had to sprint to keep up with the pink-haired girl. "I didn't mean it like that! Rui! Hey!"

The other girl continued to ignore her as they walked until Miyako gave up. She felt bad; she hadn't intended to cause an awkward silence, she simply had wanted to avoid getting worked up. She had no idea Rui would end up offended instead! How could she have worded it any differently?

She decided not to think about it. What's done is done, and Rui wouldn't be in any mood to try to reconcile now. She decided it was best to let her cool down for a while.

* * *

Miyako had been unable to coax Nephthys out during a single battle so far, but thankfully Rui seemed to be able to handle things. They had learned not to let the cat-creatures near any of the torches, as they seemed unable to ignite themselves without an existing fire source, so Rui was able to fight them hand-to-hand with little problem, and the bipedal lizard things didn't pose her any trouble either.

Still, all that was little comfort to Miyako. Nephthys was her only defense in this place, and so far, she had yet to find any pattern to her Persona's appearances. There had to be _some_ sort of trick to it – some sort of key – that she was missing. She needed a physical key to summon Nephthys, after all. She tried to think of anything that might have linked together all the times she had been successful, but came up empty. She thought maybe she had to actually turn her key in a specific manner, but dismissed that as inaccurate. So far there had been no consistency.

She groaned in frustration, and caught Rui half-turn her head to silently glance in her direction. Miyako paid her no mind, though she had no interest in returning to her thoughts, either. She had thought hard the last time she was here about this too, and now she was simply thinking in circles, getting nowhere. She could still feel Nephthys in her mind, enthusiasm building as they approached the branching corridor.

The girls stopped to inspect it before getting closer. Miyako decided to break the silence. "Doesn't look any different to me."

Rui again glanced at her, then proceeded without responding. She looked at the stone table built into the wall, running her hands over the dusty surface, then knelt to inspect the underside. "No secret buttons or doors," she said finally.

Miyako tried some of the tricks used in various movies she'd seen – pressing on some of the stones against the walls, stomping along the floor – but nothing happened other than stirring the dust anew. "Doesn't seem like there's any sort of tricks or traps here. Shame it's not like a movie."

Rui sighed and leaned against the table. "Here… let me see the book again."

Miyako looked at the tome in her arms and shrugged. She passed it to Rui, who took it with both hands. The pink-haired girl opened the book and skimmed through it briefly, then closed it and looked at the stone table. She held the book out towards it and said, "Awaken, gateway!"

By now, Miyako was used to nothing happening when she expected it.

So she was surprised when, after several seconds, the book began to glow. Or, more specifically, the golden symbols on the spine began to glow. Miyako's attention was then drawn to the stone wall where the book originally rested. Said wall had begun to glow as well, the light appearing to shine from the cracks between the bricks. On the table, symbols appeared on the stone.

"What do you make of this?" Miyako asked.

"Looks like more hieroglyphics," Rui replied.

"These look familiar…" Miyako glanced back at Rui, still holding the book out in front of her. "They're the same symbols as on the spine. But… they're out of order."

"Think we need to organize them?"

"Hm…. Oh, yeah, look! You can slide them around now!"

And so, the girls set about organizing the symbols. Rui held out the book as Miyako lifted the small glowing slabs off the table, and, checking them against the spine, set them back down again until they aligned the same way the book read.

"Okay… now what?"

At first, nothing. Then, as the two girls watched – Rui holding the book as far from her body as she could – the wall and table burst into a cloud of dust, disintegrating before their eyes, and revealing the hallway beyond.

"See? Easy," Rui said when the dust settled.

"Why is the book still glowing?" Miyako asked, feeling a sudden wave of unease. She wasn't sure why, but something told her the book was supposed to stop glowing once it's job was done. The fact that it hadn't made her worry. And it was definitely her; Nephthys remained neutral in her mind, as far as Miyako could tell. Maybe she was just paranoid?

"Dunno," Rui replied, hesitantly bringing it closer. "But we can move on now. Looks like there's a turn a little way inside."

"Better be careful," Miyako advised. "There's likely to be new enemies or some kind of traps in here…"

* * *

There weren't traps.

Miyako had stepped into what she could describe only as one of the most normal, and scariest, things she'd seen so far in this strange place. The corridor had turned and immediately opened into a large room. While the walls and floor were still stone, the bricks were now various bright shades of pink. Directly across from the girls sat a desk, it's surface littered with lipstick containers, various hair products, combs and brushes, a mirror, and other makeup items of varying uses. To the left lining the entire wall appeared to be the interior of a store, with a bar set into the stone, holding up numerous hangers which in turn held several styles of dresses and feminine swimwear. The floor was covered in assorted fashion magazines, each one adorned with a different, unnamed model. The far-right wall housed a mountain of plush animals, enough of them tumbling off the pile to have been thrown halfway across the room, where they'd rested among the magazines.

"We've walked into a fourteen-year-old's dreamland…" Miyako said. "I've never seen so much pink in my life."

Rui, for her part, didn't say a word, but Miyako's attention was drawn to her after she allowed the black book she'd still been carrying to drop onto the stone floor with a heavy _thud_. The girl, whose hair blended into the coloring of the walls, had a look of pure shock on her face.

"We have to leave," she said, interrupting Miyako's thoughts. "We have to leave now. Right now."

She grabbed Miyako's hand and turned around. Miyako tried to stop her and collect the black book, which had finally stopped glowing when it was dropped, but Rui had stopped after taking two steps, confronted not by the corridor, but by a large mirror, her own disheveled appearance staring back at her in it.

"Rui? What's going on? I mean I know it's terrifying, but…" she tried to joke. Rui wasn't amused.

"Wh-Where's the hallway? Where's the exit?"

"There _is_ no exit," said Rui's reflection in the mirror. The girls froze as the mirror image stepped from the mirror and came to a stop in front of them. "Not this time, not for you. What happened to us, Rui? Why did you abandon me?"

"What? Rui, what does that mean?"

"What's this? Not only have you abandoned me, now you're keeping secrets from your new friends, too? That's not polite."

"It means nothing," Rui said, addressing Miyako. The pink-haired girl's face was red with embarrassment, and her hands were balled up into fists. She looked as though she wanted to punch the other version of herself.

"Oh, Rui, you have no idea how much that hurts," Mirror-Rui mocked, putting her hand over her heart and a wounded expression on her face.

"You think that hurts? Try this!" Rui suddenly lunged forwards, punching her mirror-image hard. The other Rui's head snapped around, but quickly recovered, turning back.

Mirror-Rui had a wicked grin on her face, no trace of Rui's assault visible. "Look at you, still so quick to anger. _Violence is not the answer_. Isn't that what mom always said?"

"Who-who gives a damn?" Rui said, now stepping backwards slowly, not wanting to be near her mirror self, but not wanting to go any further into the pink room. "At least I'm not a wimp anymore!"

Miyako grabbed her wrist. "Rui, what's going on? What's all this about? D-do you know what it means?"

Rui just shook her head, yanking her arm from Miyako's grasp. Mirror-Rui was the one who answered. "What's this about? This is about history. You see, I am Rui. Or, I was, all those years ago. This," she said, gesturing to the room at large, "was my life. Pink everything. Makeup. Stuffed animals and fashion magazines."

"I was fourteen!" Rui cried, her voice high-pitched.

"Yes, just as any ordinary girl. So why did you change, Rui? Why did you abandon me? Your dreams? Even Curly?"

Suddenly, a stuffed brown bear with curly fur and a red bow tie fell to the floor between Rui's feet, possibly having fell from the giant pile. Rui screamed and jumped back, falling over. Miyako might have laughed in some other setting. _Curly_?

"I-I didn't abandon anything! I just… grew up! I changed! Everyone does!"

"Stop lying to yourself," countered Mirror-Rui.

"I'm so lost," Miyako commented.

"I am what Rui used to be," said Mirror-Rui. "She never told you? Curly was my best friend. I wanted to be a fashion model." Well, that explained the magazines. And the clothing. And the makeup and the dolls.

"You _did_?" Miyako gasped. In the years since Ren had introduced them, Miyako had never known Rui to enjoy anything feminine, outside of her hair color.

"I still do," Mirror-Rui replied. "Even now, you want to pick up Curly and hold him and just will this whole thing away, don't you? You wish you looked good in those clothes, don't you? I can _feel_ it."

"No!" Rui cried out. "No, that's not going to happen! Not anymore! I won't let it!"

"Why not?" Miyako asked, confused. "Rui, this looks nothing like you. Was this all yours? If this was a dream of yours, why won't you let it happen now?"

"Enough!" Rui screamed. "That's enough of this! It's in the past! That's not who I am anymore!"

"Oh no? Then surely you wouldn't mind if I…" Mirror-Rui stepped up to the brown bear and picked it up. She looked at it fondly for a moment, then held it out towards the girls, one hand around it's throat. "You don't mind if I see what's inside, do you?"

"No!" Rui shouted. Mirror-Rui smirked.

"You see? You can't lie to me, you can't hide your thoughts and feelings from me. I _am_ you. Why are you suppressing me?"

"Because you're _not_ me _anymore_!"

Mirror-Rui laughed. She began to glow a brilliant dark purple, the aura completely engulfing her. Her eyes glinted yellow in the eerie darkness. "Oh, but I am. And I _always will be_! But if that's what you want, let me show you what I _could_ be without you!"

With that, she exploded in violet flames, the force throwing Miyako and Rui to their backs. Miyako landed painfully on an overturned hair brush. It took a few minutes for Miyako to get back to her feet, all the while listening to the creepy laughing of the other girl.

But the other girl was no longer there. In her place was some sort of bipedal girl-bear hybrid, and it easily stood at twice Miyako's height. She had a thin human body, the entire upper half covered with a red bow tie. The hair was short and pink, but reminiscent of the brown bear's curls rather than the real Rui's straight locks. The rest of the bear's body also was covered in the pink curly hair, and she had the bear's claws to boot. The face was similar to the girl's, but furry and with the yellow eyes, and the bear's smile and nose, complete with real teeth.

"Oh, this can't be good," Miyako groaned. She looked over to see Rui on the ground next to her, unconscious.

"I am a shadow; the true self!" Bear-Rui said, flexing her claws. "Looks like I'll have to _toy_ with you before dealing with her!"

"Laaaame," Miyako called out. The bear fixed her with a frown, then arched a claw in her direction. It emitted a strange bright blue pulse that threw Miyako halfway across the room, knocking the breath out of her. "Okay, maybe taunting the monster was not the best idea."

As she stood up, she pulled out her Velvet key from her bra, swinging it in front of her. "Nephthys, I could use some help!"

As usual, nothing happened.

"Oh, come on already!" she cried, leaping out of the way as another blue pulse blasted in her direction. Her heartbeat began to race as panic started to set in. How could she get Rui and herself out of this mess if Nephthys refused to help her? Whatever that attack was, she knew she couldn't handle too many of those. She needed to get control, and _now_!

"Nephthys, I can't do this alone! We gotta protect Rui! Come on already!" She tried slashing with the key again.

This time, the key glowed, and as it moved it created a blue scar in the air, which after a moment, formed into the phoenix-woman. She spotted the bear and her bird-head screeched, reading her jeweled staff.

"It's about time," Miyako groaned. "Watch out for those blue energy things!" she added as the bear launched one at her persona. Nephthys simply swatted it with her staff, but the attack – some sort of energy – exploded on contact just as it did when it hit Miyako, and this time threw Nephthys back, scattering dolls and magazine pages everywhere. Miyako groaned again, feeling the impact.

"It's all furry, try one of your fireballs!" Miyako suggested. Nephthys looked down at her as though surprised by the suggestion, but obeyed, her phoenix head launching a fireball at the bear.

"Gaaah!" Bear-Rui screamed as the fireball made contact, the fur all over her igniting. She dove to the ground and rolled around, trying to put it out.

Miyako felt a surge of excitement and knew what Nephthys was thinking. "It seems like it's weak to your fire," she noted aloud. Nephthys nodded, launching another one.

This time, Bear-Rui countered with another blue energy blast even as she began to recover, blocking the fireball. Both attacks exploded, scattering even more paper and some of the clothing on the bar caught fire. Nephthys didn't seem bothered this time, and immediately launched forwards, smacking the bear across the face with her staff, knocking her over. Bear-Rui swiped at Nephthys as she went down, tripping the phoenix woman to the ground. The bear then leapt onto her and began slashing at her heads.

Miyako screamed involuntarily, clutching her face, feeling the pain of the assault. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Nephthys didn't seem to be able to react. Her heads couldn't aim a fireball at a target so close, and her staff was pinned under the bear. She seemed to be focused on trying to protect herself rather than getting the bear off her, her wings beating the ground uselessly.

So Miyako decided to take matters into her own hands. Ignoring the scratching feeling on her face as best she could, she backed up to the wall, turned, and charged at the pair wrestling on the ground. She leapt and tackled the giant bear. She felt a cracking in her shoulder that made her cry out as she rebounded, hitting the ground hard. She could move; not broken, then. Still painful.

She wasn't near strong enough to topple Bear-Rui, either, but the slight push had allowed Nephthys to pull her staff free. The phoenix adjusted it so she had gripped it just by the end, and jabbed the tip into Bear-Rui's eye. She finally relented, instead roaring, and covering her damaged eye, kneeling up. Nephthys took the chance to lean up and hurl a fireball into the bear's face.

Bear-Rui hissed. "It's all fun and games, till someone loses an eye."

"I hope you're not planning on doing this the rest of the fight," Miyako groaned. She drew the bear's attention long enough for Nephthys to strike with another fire attack, this time knocking Bear-Rui onto her back and filling the room with a horrible scent of burning fur.

Miyako noticed Rui, still unconscious on the floor, dangerously close to a burning dress. The brunette danced around the ongoing battle and grabbed Rui by the feet, pulling her as carefully as she could away towards the pile of stuffed animals, allowing her to rest her head.

Then she doubled over as she felt a pain in her gut, looking up to see one of Bear-Rui's claws dug into her persona's stomach. The bear grinned with those razor-sharp teeth, and let loose another blue energy blast at point-blank range. Both of Nephthys's heads screeched in pain, and Miyako collapsed on the ground, as the attack ripped the bear's claws from the phoenix's body and sent her flying, completely destroying the desk as she crashed into it.

 _Nephthys isn't going to last much longer_ , Miyako thought, using her own exhaustion as a gauge. Assuming her persona was a reflection of herself in some form, the phoenix must be on the verge of collapse. She hadn't been fighting long, but she could already feel her limits. _I've got to do something to stop this, something to occupy it until she can take it down._

She eyed the pile of dolls behind her, the real Rui laying on them, still unconscious. A few of the ones that fell away from the pile had burned or torn from the heat of the battle. Miyako picked one up. "Oops!" she shouted, yanking the head off the stuffed pig in her hands.

Bear-Rui looked at her immediately, horror on her face, quickly replaced by rage. " _No! What have you done to my friends_? Stop, or I will make you!"

She charged at Miyako, ignoring Nephthys, who had attempted to burn the bear once again. Miyako, startled, dropped the two halves of the stuffed pig, terrified both of the charging Bear-Rui, and of the possibility of Nephthys shooting fire in her direction in attempt to hit the charging bear. "Play time is over!" the giant bear cried.

Miyako, too frightened to bother complaining at another toy pun, dove on top of Rui in a vain attempt to protect her as the bear plowed into the stuffed animal pile, sending fur and cotton flying, and she recoiled as she collided with the wall behind the pile. Miyako tried to pull the pink-haired girl to safety as the bear spotted them and tried to collect itself. She began charging another blue energy attack.

Nephthys wasn't going to reach the other Rui in time, Miyako realized. She turned her back to the bear, shielding Rui and taking the attack herself, which exploded as it hit her and threw her forward to the ground like a rag doll. She knelt up and looked behind her, twisting around painfully, and time seemed to slow down as she saw Bear-Rui preparing yet another attack. Nephthys was almost there, but she was still nowhere near close enough to stop it. Miyako crawled back to Rui and flopped herself on top of her friend, just about the only thing she had energy left to do.

Suddenly, there was a giant shadow over her. Time returned to normal as Nephthys skidded to a halt in front of the girls – she had been charging not to attack the other Rui, as Miyako had thought she was doing, but to shield her master – and hurled a massive fireball towards Bear-Rui, just as the latter released her energy attack.

The attacks collided and exploded before the blue energy had traveled more than a few feet, and the force of the explosion slammed Bear-Rui into the wall hard enough to crack it, while any remaining dolls were sent bouncing off the wall and landing scattered on the far side of the room. Nephthys had turned and crouched down over the two girls, shielding them from most of the damage.

When the dust settled and Nephthys finally stood up and turned around, Miyako forced herself to look up. She gasped as she watched Bear-Rui struggle, but manage to get back to her feet. The brunette stood as well, leaning on her persona's staff to hold her balance. Bear-Rui looked worse for wear, finally. She stood there silently, charred and smoking, with her attacking arm dangling uselessly at her side, only being held together by threads. Stuffing threatened to burst out of the open seam, though for the moment, it remained inside the bear. The bowtie had been torn and burnt in numerous places and hung lopsided on the bear's neck. Miyako noted for the first time that she seemed to be completely missing an eye, as though the earlier attack hadn't just blinded their enemy, but completely removed it.

She heard a groan behind her and turned her head to see the real Rui standing up, holding her head as though she had a headache. She looked back just in time to see the smoking bear transform back into Mirror-Rui, purple flames and all – though they weren't nearly as impressive – leaving her looking just as she did earlier, a copy of the real girl. At her feet, though, Curly the Bear lay in tatters, missing an eye and almost an arm.

Although Rui looked weak, she limped forward until the two were nearly face to face, and glared at her other self, though both remained silent. She simply stood, looking the other girl in the eye. They watched each other for a while; Miyako was content to let them stare each other to death, so long as she got some rest. Nephthys decided she'd had enough as well, and burst into flames of her own, vanishing.

Finally, Rui broke eye contact and looked down at the feet of her other half and her expression softened. She leaned over and picked up the damaged stuffed bear, looking at it with a fondness that was indistinguishable from the way the other Rui had looked at the same doll earlier. She gently lifted the damaged arm, testing the strength of the seams holding the bear together. Then, she softly squeezed the bear against her cheek. Miyako heard her whisper, "I'll fix you soon." She wasn't sure if she was supposed to have heard that, so she stayed silent.

"Alright." Rui said, letting her arm drop, still gripping Curly. "Fine. You win."

"Rui…?"

The pink-haired girl twitched slightly at Miyako's voice, as though she had forgotten the other girl were there. With a slight tilt of the head to acknowledge her, Rui returned her focus to her shadow. "So what if I still like dolls? So what if I still want to be a model? What are you gonna do about it?"

Shadow-Rui simply stared, unblinking.

"Answer me!"

"Rui, why is it such a bad thing to like dolls or want to look pretty? Why have you bottled this all up? What happened?"

"Not now." She looked down, her body trembling. "I… I can't tell you. Not now. Later." Miyako heard her take a deep breath before continuing. "But fine. Yeah, I still feel the same. I don't want to look weak. I'm… I'm not. But… I…"

She looked up again at her shadow. With a grin – completely different from her previous one, this one had no traces of malevolence – Mirror-Rui slowly melted into a thin purple mist, which then transformed into a bright blue light. Miyako had to look away, and she heard her friend gasp, but when she looked back, there was only one Rui, and she was clutching some sort of oversized blue card in her right hand, opposite Curly.

"The Chariot?" she said, staring at the card. "The hell is this?"

"Let me see," Miyako demanded, suddenly perking up. She scrambled over to Rui, who turned and handed over the blue card. "It's a tarot card," she said in amazement. "Igor asked me if I knew anything about them. But why do you have this? Does this have some connection to me?"

"To you? Why would it? Who is Igor?"

"Hey, you owe me an explanation, too. We'll trade after I have time to think about this. Right now, though… I just want to sleep."


	5. The Maze

**Chapter 5 – The Maze**

 **Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - Morning**

 **Toukawa City – Shingen High School**

It was only the second week of classes, but Miyako felt like she'd been in the same room for years. Their teacher had been going on and on all morning, but she couldn't focus on the lesson. She was too tired for that. There were too many other things on her mind that demanded her attention, and school was _absolute last_ on the list. Even so, she was so tired that she was having trouble sorting any of it out, though that didn't stop her from trying.

She hoped that she would eventually get used to going into that strange other world and not be so exhausted afterwards, if for no other reason than the fact that she knew she had to go back at least one more time, since she and Rui still hadn't found the boys. After their battle last night, neither she nor Rui felt capable of progressing any further, nor were they in any mood to argue about it. At least they were in agreement about leaving for a change.

Still, she knew she had to go back and try again, and fast. There was only so much she could do to stall Ren's and Ryo's parents. Her brilliant idea had been to call the first night and ask them if the three of them were able to be spend the night at her place, and thankfully both sets of parents had agreed without questioning, as this was hardly an uncommon occurrence. Ryo's parents were more than willing to let their son live his life independently, anyway. But after three nights of not even hearing from their children, Miyako worried that they might become suspicious, and now they would come to her looking for answers.

The harder part had been convincing the school not to call their homes, and Miyako considered their solution nothing short of insane. The suggestion had actually been Kiyoshi's, much to her surprise. With help from a doctor that Shizuka knew, they were able to get forged doctor's notes and turned them in to the school, with Miyako claiming to have been given them by both Ryo's and Ren's relatives. Miyako only went along with it because no one felt they had any other option. Only Rui didn't seem bothered by it; Miyako was sure they were breaking some kind of law, but Shizuka assured her (with an absolutely unconvinced expression) that her doctor friend had done this before. (Though Miyako did make a note to drag Shizuka to meet this doctor – if he were willing to forge notes, maybe he could help them with some medicine or something to help keep their energy up.)

Even so, that worry had been pushed towards the back of her mind, with the group too worried about the safety of their missing friends above anything. But now, three days later, they still had not rescued the boys and Miyako was seriously starting to worry. They could only delay for so long, and if they were caught who knows what could happen to them – not just her or her missing friends, but Shizuka, Rui, and Kiyoshi, too. They were accomplices if nothing else, but that would be little consolation if anyone discovered their roles in the note forgery.

They also had neglected Takara. None of them had any way to contact his family, not knowing who they were, and forging three notes would look even more suspicious, least of all because Takara wasn't generally part of their clique. At least between Ren and Ryo, it was no secret that they were friends and spent a lot of time together, so having them both contracting a contagious virus at the same time wasn't too unusual. The group felt it safe enough not to worry about him, with little connection to bring down suspicions upon them from his parents.

Still, even tired as she was, Miyako was determined to rescue them today.

And that was all not even considering everything she still had to figure out regarding her persona, Igor and Scarlet and the Velvet Room, Rui's tarot card, and just what that maze was.

If there were a bright side, it was the fact that she was in class today at all. The first time they had gone into that maze, she had been so tired that she slept through her next day's classes. And while she had come in yesterday too, she hadn't had such a brutal time of it in the tunnels the night before. Last night she did, and though it no doubt left her even more tired, she still was able to get up in the morning. So, she thought, maybe she was getting used to it after all, despite not paying the slightest bit of attention to her teachers.

She caught Shizuka on her left glancing over at her with a worried expression more than once, and she suspected Kiyoshi (though she couldn't see him sitting behind the redhead) was watching her too, so she did her best not to lay her head down and at least appear to be focused. She spent more time with her head forward, chin on her folded arms and staring at Ryo's empty seat in front of her than the teacher though, and eventually, the woman realized it, too.

"Tsukino!" she called. Miyako jumped and blinked up at the gray-haired elderly woman in the front of the room, startled, then flinched as something collided with her head. For eighty years old, the teacher still had a good arm and sharp eyes. "Shall I get you a pillow? Or perhaps a bib?"

Miyako was vaguely aware of the rest of the class giggling, no doubt all having turned to catch her in the act, and wiped at her chin. At least she hadn't been drooling. "N-no, Ms. Ito."

"Then prove to me you were listening. What is the name of the woman considered the first female samurai?"

 _Oh thank god we're just doing review_ , Miyako thought. "It's… Tomoe Gozen, isn't it?"

Her answer seemed to catch Ms. Ito by surprise. "Impressive, without Mr. Kobayashi flashing you the answer. Thank you for paying attention, but please show some respect and sit up."

Miyako nodded and did just that, but the second Ms. Ito turned her back, she sunk back down in her seat in relief. She let her head loll to the side, caught Shizuka's eye, and gave her a weak smile and a thumbs-up. Shizuka cracked a small smile in return and shook her head in disbelief.

* * *

 **Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **Toukawa City – Run-Down Dormitory**

"So, I found this in my sock last night," Rui said, holding up a blue key.

Miyako stared at it. "Huh? But… I didn't lose mine. I have it right here…" She pulled her own key out from her leggings. "They… look identical."

"Seems to be," Shizuka added, leaning in close to inspect them. "Think they unlock the same thing?"

"Mine doesn't unlock anything," Miyako replied. "It's how I summon Nephthys."

The quartet sat in a circle in the basement of the abandoned dorm, preparing to enter the doorway once more. Kiyoshi insisted that he and Shizuka be caught up on what had happened so far. The two of them were skeptical, of course, but with Rui backing up Myiako's story, along with everything else that happened so far, either they believed it or were simply pretending to. So Miyako told them about the tunnels, the door, and Nephthys. She skipped most of the battle with Bear-Rui out of courtesy, as Rui didn't appear ready to talk about it yet. Instead, she simply mentioned facing a difficult battle and the aftereffects.

"These keys must go to something," Shizuka insisted.

"I-I've got a question," Kiyoshi spoke up, and shrunk back when the three girls turned to him. "You say you summoned Nephthys using your key, right? Now Rui somehow has a key. Do you think she can summon something now too?"

Rui looked at Miyako, who stared back and shrugged. "I… I dunno. I mean, I wasn't trying to when I did it the first time. I didn't know I could."

"But eventually you figured it out," Rui answered, excitement rising. "And after that battle…" She gave Miyako a knowing look.

"But… I haven't figured out how to summon her at will, remember?"

"Yeah… but still, you did manage to do it eventually. And after that fight, I felt something inside me change. I couldn't explain it, I thought I was just tired. But like… remember how you told me you could feel Nephthys in your brain even though you hadn't summoned her?"

Miyako nodded, afraid of where this was heading.

"Well, I feel like that. Like something's there in my mind, right now. I can't picture it or feel it or anything, but I bet if we go into that other world, I'll be able to make out whatever it is."

"I guess we'll find out."

"Let's go, then!" Rui stood up.

"Wait a sec, I have another question," Kiyoshi interrupted.

Rui glanced down at him, and he paled. "Hey, we're short on time, remember? I wanna test this out and if I'm right, we'll have a much better chance to find and rescue the guys."

"I think it's important, though," the boy said with a frown.

Rui crossed her arms. "Oh, all right, go ahead…"

"What's up with the tarot card?"

"That's what you're holding me back for?"

"He's right," Shizuka said, taking pity on the lone male in the group. "If you thought it was worth mentioning, it must be important somehow."

"You're grasping at straws," Rui groaned. "Whether it is or not, right now isn't the time to think about it. We should go."

Miyako stood up. "I actually agree with Rui this time," she said, helping Kiyoshi to his feet. "I do think it's important, but it's just another mystery that, right now, we don't even know how to begin to solve. So I think we should just focus on recovering the guys."

"Right on," Rui said, punching Miyako's shoulder. Kiyoshi and Miyako exchanged a glance, with her practically pleading to just drop it. She wasn't sure he understood her expression, but he relented regardless.

"Alright, I guess. Just… be safe and… stuff."

"We'll be fine," Miyako said, trying to project confidence she didn't feel. "We're starting to get a feel for the layout, and I don't think we'll have to face any more bea– I mean, giant monsters, so we'll try to be quick. You two just sit tight."

* * *

 **Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - Afternoon**

 **?**

As soon as the girls landed in the stone hallway, Rui withdrew her blue key. "Alright Persona, let's see what you look like!" she shouted, swinging her arm in an arc.

As Miyako expected, nothing happened.

"Hm. Well, you're right, I don't know why that didn't work. I can feel whatever it is still. It's definitely stronger in here."

"Yeah, performance issues, y'know," Miyako laughed.

Rui didn't seem to think it funny this time around, and tried again. And again, all she did was stir up dust.

"There has to be some kind of trick to making this work," she said, frustrated with herself.

"I know, I felt the same way when I first tried. You'll get it eventually."

"I just don't want it to be too late, you know?"

"It won't be," Miyako replied, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. She really didn't want this trip to be a repeat of the previous angst-ridden ones, and figured she'd better start playing nice early and consciously. "You'll figure it out. Let's get moving."

* * *

"Rui, are you ready to go back in there?" Miyako asked as she stood in front of the doorway that lead to Rui's pink room. Miyako had difficulty summoning Nephthys once again, but after a few hastily dodged attacks from some speedy mummies, she finally got the phoenix to show up. Rui tried as well, but was rewarded with nothing but growing frustration.

"No choice, is there?"

"No, but… Rui, are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

Rui refused to look at her, and instead crossed her arms. "…Yes. But not now. When this whole mess is over, I'll explain it. But for now, please, just… I don't want to think about it."

Miyako frowned. "Alright…" She felt Nephthys' concern as they rounded the corner into the pink room.

Had she not seen all the other crazy things going on in this strange place, Miyako might have worried at the sight of the pink room looking fresh and pristine as when they first entered it. Perhaps even cleaner, she realized, as the magazines and dolls were now stacked neatly off to the side rather than scattered across the floor, only noteworthy because the girls themselves had not cleaned this room before leaving on their last trip. Other than that, the only difference was…

"Hey, Miyako, what do you make of this?"

"Hm?" Miyako turned to find Rui's back to her, facing the doorway they had just come through. Unlike last time, there was no mirror blocking their retreat route. Instead, it had moved to become lodged in the wall just next to the door. Even more strangely, the mirror did not reflect the room, but rather shimmered as though it were a pool of water.

"Have you ever played Portal?" Miyako asked Rui. The other girl turned and raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to assume that's a no. Well, this almost looks like one… you think it might lead somewhere?"

Rui turned to face the door on the opposite end of the room. "Maybe, but I bet that door does, too. I mean, it might be a closet, but then, this isn't a normal room, is it? I think we should keep going forward."

"…I just had a thought…" Miyako said reluctantly. "Do you think it's likely that they came through this way? I mean, this room was like... specifically attuned to you or something. How could they have gone passed it?"

"I don't know," Rui replied, ignoring the implication. "But I think we should keep going. Through the door."

"I… I think we should try the portal," Miyako countered anxiously. She noted that this trip seemed to spark less violent reactions, both from Rui as well as herself, for which she was grateful, but while she hoped it was because she was actively trying to be nicer, she suspected that was more due to Rui's unease about being back in the pink room.

Rui shrugged. "You're the leader," she deadpanned.

Before she could start to argue about the use of that word, she felt a sense of impatience and realized it was coming from her persona. Nephthys nudged her on the back with her staff, then vanished in a blaze of flames. Hesitantly, Miyako stuck a finger into the mirror. The ripples became more pronounced at her touch. She took a deep breath, then stepped through it.

She emerged in a small room on the other side. It appeared to be nothing special, being a simple square room with a few torches lining the walls, another weird black doorway with symbols around it, and a corridor that turned a few meters down. Behind her, the mirror portal remained. Then, suddenly, something came out of it.

"Gah!" she cried, as Rui slammed headfirst into her and they both tumbled to the ground.

"Ow! Why didn't you move?" Rui demanded.

"I'm sorry! I was looking around."

"So then, where are we?" Rui asked as she got to her feet and rolled her eyes, reaching down to help Miyako.

"I'm not sure… it looks just a plain room. But look, the mirror is still there. And even more importantly, there's another gateway."

"Well, now we have three paths to try. This maze is actually starting to become maze-like. Where do we go now, leader? The doorway, the tunnel, or the portal back to the pink room and the door there?"

"Um… let's try this tunnel," she said, unsure of herself. The number of options and unknowns, combined with her exhaustion, was beginning to overwhelm her – she really just wanted this whole catastrophe to _end_ already. The one doorway they knew about lead back to the real world – Miyako wondered if this one was similar, and if it was, where it would dump them out at, but since she wasn't ready to leave yet, she ruled it out as an option. She started to walk, and Rui followed her. Immediately around the corner was a small staircase, after which lead to a straight hallway. The girls walked only for a few minutes before Miyako stopped them.

"Rui, look! There's a torch missing there! And another one just next to it!"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, when Takara and I first arrived here, we pulled a torch from the wall. And when I brought you, we pulled another. I didn't bother on the last trip since Nephthys lit the way. But Rui, I think we're back where we started!"

"You mean that branching path at the start? You think that's where we just came from?"

"Yes!" Miyako turned and started to run back in the direction they had come.

"Don't get too excited!" Rui exclaimed, chasing after her. "You can't be sure!"

"I just have a feeling!" She sprinted to the small room with the mirror and gateway. "I wonder where this goes," she asked rhetorically as she stopped in front of the new gateway. As Rui arrived in the room, Miyako turned to the mirror. "Rui, I want to try something. Wait here for a sec."

And before she got a reply, Miyako stepped through the mirror.

As she expected, she arrived back in the pink room. Turning around, she saw that the mirror portal was still there, and so once again, she stepped through it. She caught Rui's eye as she emerged on the other side yet again, and grinned.

"It's a portal all right!" she said with excitement. "We can go back and forth fast now! And if I'm right, that gateway here in this room takes us to the basement in the dorm! We can come back in and go right to the pink room from here!"

"How do you know? Why didn't we arrive here through this gateway the very first time we came through, if that's where it leads?"

"I just have a–"

"–a feeling, I know."

"Let's test it later," Miyako suggested.

Rui asked, "Why not now?"

"Because," Miyako replied, rolling her eyes but nevertheless pleased with herself, "we still have work to do in here. We'll just take it when we're ready to leave. Now come on! Let's go back to the pink room and go through your door."

Even as frustrated as she looked, Miyako was happy to see Rui grin. "That sounds dirty."

And then, suddenly, she wasn't so pleased anymore. "Oh, stop," Miyako answered, then turned and stepped through the mirror again.

* * *

As soon as Miyako opened the far door in the pink room, the girls were blasted off their feet by a gust of wind that returned the cleaned area to its previous chaos. Magazines, dolls, and clothes flew all over, landing haphazardly around the room.

"What the hell?" Rui demanded from somewhere behind her.

As she sat up, Miyako caught sight of something above them. "Uh, Rui, we've got trouble."

The panic in her voice got Rui's attention, and Miyako pointed at the ceiling. Above the girls was a giant slate-gray cloud. The air surrounding it was distorted, as though a constant wind blew there, and the cloud occasionally flashed white or yellow, like there were explosions going off inside it. The cloud seemed to be able to move around at will, and began to circle the girls.

Then it dropped a lightning bolt on them, causing each to let out a loud scream. The bolt wasn't terribly painful, but neither was expecting it. Miyako got to her feet quickly enough and whipped out her key, praying that she didn't have to endure another shock regardless – her ears _burned_ and she wondered if it was safe to take out her earrings. With her heart pounding in her ears, and one fluid motion, Nephthys appeared and spread her wings with a defiant screech.

The cloud, for all its facelessness, appeared undaunted.

"Get it!" Miyako ordered, hoping for some fire. Instead, Nephthys just beat her wings, as though she could blow the cloud away. Indeed, the cloud was tossed around a bit, but soon enough the air distortions around it expanded into a wind attack of its own, making it difficult for Nephthys to keep her balance.

"Fire, Nephthys, fire!" Miyako shouted urgently. The phoenix-woman obliged, releasing a fireball at the cloud. It exploded as it made contact, but other than drifting backwards slightly, the cloud appeared unaffected. Miyako thought it may have changed shape slightly, but that's all. She couldn't really be sure.

For her part, Nephthys looked better than she had on the previous trip; she was moving quicker, and her fireballs looked to have returned to a decent size and power. Still, as Miyako watched her persona blast another one at the cloud, she wondered if they were actually making any sort of impact. It was a little hard to determine the health of a cloud.

Nephthys instead flew up at their foe, her staff at the ready. She swung it, only to have it pass through the cloud as though it weren't even there. The cloud zapped Nephthys in retaliation, who retreated a short distance but remained airborne.

"Well, now what?" Rui asked. "Neither of us can reach it, and your bird doesn't seem to be able to damage it." Miyako doubted either she nor Rui would be able to physically hurt it either, assuming they even found a way to reach it.

"Wanna make a run for it?" Miyako suggested, glancing at the door where the cloud came from.

"It will probably just follow us, and the last thing we need is a hitchhiker in unfamiliar territory. Besides, if we do have to come back through here, it will still be here. We need to beat it now."

That was logical enough. "Alright… any ideas?"

"One," Rui said, and Miyako noticed the key in her hand.

Again, Rui tried to copy Miyako's motions. Still, nothing happened.

"Come out, damn you!" Rui demanded, swinging her key again. "Persona!"

While the pink-haired girl was busy trying to force something to happen, Nephthys deflected a lightning bolt aimed down at her while she was distracted. With impatience, the phoenix squawked at the pink-haired girl, producing an embarrassed blush from Miyako.

"What do you want me to do? I'm trying!" she yelled. Then she gasped and had to look away as a bright flash erupted from the cloud and zapped Nephthys. This time the phoenix head let out a pained screech and she crumpled to a heap on the floor, her staff clattering down next to her.

Though worried and wanting to run to her, Miyako felt an odd sensation coming from her persona that kept her rooted. It wasn't pain, either, and that was the sole reason causing her to hesitate. Nephthys didn't take that much damage from the hit, even though she hadn't been expecting it – certainly not enough damage to collapse like that, anyway. Miyako thought to herself, _why do I get the feeling that you fell_ on purpose?

An image of Rui flashed in her mind. Miyako looked at her persona, perplexed, but then felt the sense of urgency coming from her. Surely if she could feel things from her persona, then maybe her persona could read her thoughts as well? And now was trying to answer her? Then she was hit by a sudden clarity, and everything – or, at least, their current situation – made sense to her. She took a guess as to what Nephthys was demanding. "Rui, she's hurt! We need you!"

The other girl gaped at her, annoyance written all over her face. "The fuck do you think I've been trying to do?"

"Just do it, Rui! Try again! Hurry, it's coming down at you!"

Horrified, Rui looked up. "What? Oh, shit! _What do I do_!?" She swung her arms madly in an effort to punch the cloud and was thrown off her feet by a blinding blue light. Miyako couldn't see at first, but as the light began to move away from Rui, she watched as the other girl's body contorted backwards in a way she didn't think was possible, which she guessed is what caused her to cry out.

 _Is… is that what_ I _looked like?_ she thought, reaching a hand behind her to rub her lower back.

At the same time, the blue light tossed the cloud – all at once, as though it were solid – back into the air, flattening it against the ceiling.

"Whoa…" Miyako gasped as she and Nephthys watched the blue light from Rui's key form into another figure. With her body no longer bent out of shape, Rui herself sat up in attempt to see for herself what was happening, rubbing the back of her head all the while.

It appeared that Rui was finally able to conjure up something. Miyako could make out the shape of wings forming first, much different than Nephthys'. The general shape wasn't dissimilar from her own persona, but there was a clear difference in style.

The head of this creature was entirely birdlike, not double-headed like her own persona. Miyako couldn't tell what kind of bird it was, but thankfully at least Nephthys seemed to recognize it as a falcon. As the light began to fade, the head of the falcon remained a shining bright blue. She noticed that the eye facing her appeared to be in the shape of another of those symbols from the doorway in the basement. The creature's body was also humanoid, yet again like Nephthys, except this one's body was a tame green, and a bit more muscular and angular looking, so perhaps it was male. It appeared to be carrying some sort of spear, but unlike the phoenix-woman's weapon, this staff's end had a curved, pointed edge rather than a jewel. Orbiting the beast's head was a pink flower that Miyako _did_ recognize – a lotus.

"Finally," Rui said with awe, back on her feet and staring up at the new figure. "This feels awesome! You didn't tell me it would feel so… powerful!" She pointed up at the cloud as it recovered and dove at them, shouting, "Let's do this, Horus!"

At her command, her persona – Horus – raised his own arm and also pointed at the cloud. The lotus flower accompanying him moved on its own and faced the cloud, then released a blast of blue energy from the center of its petals.

 _It's the same kind of attack that her bear form used_ , Miyako realized.

The cloud flew straight into the oncoming blue energy blast, either confident or uncaring, perhaps from having done the same with Nephthys' fireballs to no ill effect. On impact, the cloud made a horrible wail of agony that Miyako never imagined possible as Horus' attack exploded, ripping the cloud apart. Wind kicked up in the room again, sending everyone flying, but it quickly died down as the cloud incinerated. Miyako half expected to find three more smaller clouds in its place, but as she scanned the area while on her back, she decided that maybe she'd played too much Super Mario – in her defense, that boss battle _had_ taken eleven tries _and_ given her nightmares for a week before she finally beat it.

As Miyako again got back to her feet, Rui said, "Is that it? Really?" She almost sounded… upset.

"What do you mean, is that it? You did it! You summoned your persona!"

She turned to look at Miyako. "Well… yeah… but I had kind of hoped to get more of a fight out of that thing."

Miyako crossed her arms. "It was a cloud."

"It did a number on you, though."

Instead of answering, Miyako looked up, feeling a sensation of curiosity and found Nephthys hovering next to Horus, looking him over. Horus seemed offended at her closeness and backed away, but Nephthys simply followed.

And then she poked him with her staff.

Horus leapt backwards, brandishing his spear at her bitterly. Mimicking her master, Nephthys crossed her arms.

"Okay, no fighting, you two," Miyako groaned. Her persona glanced down at her and patted her head – as if to assure her that she would behave – before vanishing in a fiery blaze. Not willing to be outdone, Horus squawked, exploded in a blue light, and also vanished.

"Wait, no!" Rui cried, raising an arm to stop him, realizing too late what was happening, but he was already gone. "Damn it! I had just summoned it, and now it's gone? How am I ever going to make that happen again? How did I even do it that time?"

Seeing Nephthys' decent acting skills connected the commonality between all of the summonings so far in Miyako's mind, and now that the battle was over and she had time to think about it, she wasn't sure she liked the answer. It fit, though, and also gave Scarlet's warning some merit. "Um…" Miyako stepped up to Rui, unsure of how to break the news. "I have a theory, but you're not going to like it."

"Oh?"

She put on her best kicked puppy face in the hopes that Rui wouldn't lash out at her; after seeing the way Horus reacted to Nephthys, she felt perhaps she wasn't imagining the heightened emotions she'd been feeling since they discovered this place. "Don't get mad, but I think… Nephthys tricked you to force Horus out."

Rui watched her skeptically. "Tricked me?"

"Mhm. When she fell… electricity doesn't seem to hurt her very much. But I think… she had to make you panic, to think you were the only way we could win, so Horus would respond to you. All the other times I've been able to summon her, I've kinda been in a mad frenzy, or at least some form of unease. Any other time I've tried, she hasn't come out. I've only just realized it myself… that's the only similarity I can come up with."

"So… you think we have to be panicked in order to make them respond?"

"I don't know if it's just… panicked, or uncomfortable, or just afraid, but… something like that."

Rui continued staring at her. Miyako bounced on her feet again, just to move, feeling increasingly more uncomfortable the longer she stared.

Finally, the other girl broke the silence with an enlightening, "Well, shit."

Unsure of how to respond, Miyako simply choked out, "Yeah…"

"That's going to be a problem," Rui said. "Fighting these things doesn't scare me. And the more we do it, the more confident we'll get. Which means the harder it will be to summon our persona to us. How can we gain confidence if it's going to hinder our main offense?"

"Um… Rui, all I want is to save the guys and never come back here again. I don't care if it gets harder later, I don't plan to _be here_ later. And if this is really how it works, then I'll be fine, I'm plenty scared for them."

With a frown, Rui looked towards the doorway. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. For now, it looks like that path is open. We should keep going. And enough with that face already, it's giving me the creeps."

* * *

The maze continued beyond Rui's pink room, up a short flight of stairs. Not only that, much to Miyako's chagrin, the upper level became much more complex. It more closely resembled an actual maze now, with numerous paths branching down into other numerous branching paths, rather than the relatively straight shot from the floor below. The girls quickly lost their sense of direction, and having no way to mark the directions they'd already traveled wasn't helping.

The creatures they had encountered began to change as well, but thankfully the girls were able to summon their persona relatively effortlessly, perhaps due to their apprehensiveness over the unfamiliar territory. While there were still plenty of flaming cats, lizards, and speedy mummies, all of which seemed just a little more difficult to fight, they also encountered a new enemy in a multicolored hydra, one who seemed to only grow new heads upon taking a physical hit. Thankfully, blowing them up with Horus' blue energy attack proved effective enough to defeat the beasts.

They also encountered a shark, realistic looking enough, other than the fact that it was literally swimming through the air as though it were water. Neither Miyako nor Rui dared get close enough to it to try physical attacks, but the sharks seemed able to handle Horus' energy, and actually seemed to resist Nephthys' fire, so defeating them took quite a bit of work. In addition, the water and ice attacks it used seemed to hurt Nephthys quite a bit; Miyako didn't need to feel the pain to realize that, with the way her persona simply _emanated_ rage any time she was hit by one, but that didn't stop the pain from affecting her, too. The girls backtracked to a different passage if they encountered one whenever possible.

Another creature resembled what Miyako affectionately referred to as a miniature Hulk, perhaps a little more demonic looking thanks to the row of sharp spikes down it's hunched, green-skinned spine. It was very muscular and resembled some sort of goblin. Although they were less than half Rui's height, one was able to grab her by the ankle mid-kick and hurl her halfway down a tunnel. Fire seemed to work well enough against it, as the creature's punches did nothing to the flames, although it seemed able to physically punch Horus's blue energy waves without adverse effects.

All in all, it was another long, tiring walk. Miyako was beginning to get the hang of fighting with her guardian's staff, and was seriously considering getting one of her own to practice with. She then had to remind herself that she wouldn't need practice once she rescued the boys, but now that she was getting a feel for it she found it somewhat exciting and thought maybe it would be a good workout, and maybe even useful for real-world self-defense. Rui, meanwhile, was comfortable enough with her karate moves that she wasn't even breaking a sweat. She mentioned offhand that while she'd never practiced, it was trait that ran in her family in the past.

For a moment, Miyako realized and lamented the fact that she knew very little about Rui. She had been friends with Shizuka and Ren for over a decade, and became acquainted with Ryo after he and Ren began dating each other. Kiyoshi was a bit of a mystery as well, but he seemed content with keeping his distance, despite Shizuka's passive-aggressive attempts to get him to open his shell and include him in the group. But Rui had only become part of their little squad recently. She and Ren had been friends for some time, but he had only gotten her to meet the rest of the group at the end of the last school year. Although Kiyoshi knew her from work, he confirmed that they never really interacted much before then, as they worked different departments.

"So…" Miyako started. Rui turned to her, but she just stared back. What could she say? She knew almost nothing about the girl other than what she'd seen in the pink room, and Rui was adamant about not wanting to discuss that at the present. Where should she start?

"So, what?" Rui prompted.

"I dunno," the brunette replied. She felt a little intimidated all of a sudden, and she didn't know why. "I just thought maybe we could talk while we're here? I really don't know anything about you."

Rui turned and resumed walking, Horus floating silently behind her. "What do you want to know?"

Miyako glanced up at her own persona behind her. Nephthys, who had thankfully left Horus alone after their first encounter, stared back down at her and after a moment, shook her head, as though she thought Miyako was asking for her input.

"Um… well, you said before that karate was a family tradition?"

"Uh-huh."

"So, then, um…" Miyako had no idea where her train of thought was going, and simply trailed off there.

"I don't really have any details for you," Rui said, filling in the silence. "My uncle, or great-grandfather, or something, someone several generations ago was like a karate expert and it was sort of a thing for our family to learn so we could defend ourselves. At first, I never really cared, but I guess I was around it often enough to pick up a few tricks. For example…"

Miyako watched as Rui walked up to a mummy. As it turned to face her, she quickly jabbed it in the face, trying to explain the motions to Miyako as she did so. "When you go to punch, you'll hit harder if you twist your arm – like this – oh, and don't grip your thumb or you might break it on impact."

The mummy stumbled back, then reached out and grabbed Rui's upper arm with some cloth from its own upper arm, not even a hand. If it caught Rui by surprise, she didn't show it as she deftly maneuvered behind the mummy, delivered a swift downward chop to its shoulder that completely severed the arm holding her, and then another, horizontal one to the back of the neck that dropped the mummy to the ground where it exploded into purple mist.

Horus actually clapped, clearly very proud of the girl, while Rui gathered what loot she could collect from the mist before it dissipated. She held up another vial of mysterious liquid and tossed it to a grateful Miyako. "So yeah, I guess it's just a bit of natural talent, along with a little practice," Rui added with a shrug, as though unsure of what else to say.

"It's a shame the school's karate club doesn't allow girls," Miyako commented.

Rui just shrugged again. "It's not something I ever thought I'd have to worry about. I never cared about fighting much. At least, not until…" She trailed off, looking oddly wistful, but then shook her head and looked down the now empty tunnel ahead of them. "Never mind. Now is not the time."

"Does this have something to do with –"

"Yes," Rui interrupted.

Miyako knew enough not to press her for more if it had to do with whatever history was related to the pink room, but before she could even process that a flash of blue blinded her vision. She thought she hear a voice saying something about a rank and a bond, but she was too disoriented to focus. When her vision returned, a blue card was floating in the air in front of her. She grabbed it before Nephthys had the chance (and her persona quickly withdrew her hand and tried to appear as though she hadn't made a move for it).

The card was the exact same as the one Rui had found after the battle against the bear – the Chariot card, except now it had the text "rank 2" scribbled in the bottom right-hand corner, in a fancy-looking script. The girl in question, Miyako noted out of the corner of her eye, was staring at her, concern etched all over her face.

Miyako stowed the rather large card in her leggings, doing her best not to bend it, deciding that now wasn't the time to be worrying about where it came from or what it meant. Rui's expression changed from concern to curious. "You didn't see that, did you?" Miyako asked.

"See you sliding your hand down the side of your leggings?" Rui answered cautiously.

Miyako suddenly realized what it must have looked like to Rui and her face instantly heated up. "It was the tarot card you gave me," she spat hastily. "It just appeared and I have nowhere to put it so I was tucking it away."

"Uh… alright, then."

Furiously embarrassed, Miyako crossed her arms and scurried passed Rui to continue down the tunnel, pointedly ignoring the absolute delight her persona was discharging at her expense. "L-let's keep moving, yeah?"

* * *

"This place just never seems to end, does it?" Rui complained as she tripped up another mummy and delivered a chop to it's back as it went down.

"Actually, I think I have a theory…" Miyako announced. It was something she had been considering for quite a while since they arrived on this floor, but she had hesitated to say anything without proof. Rui looked at her expectantly. "It's just a hunch, but I've been noticing a pattern, I think…" She tried to keep track in her mind of all the creatures they'd encountered so far, hoping her mind wasn't just playing tricks on her in its exhaustion.

"…and?" Rui prompted when Miyako went silent.

"Um, well… this tunnel had a mummy. And there's only one way to go. So… let's keep going. I want to try to find a hydra."

"You think the monsters we're running into are relevant in some way?"

"Possibly," Miyako mumbled. They continued walking for a short while until they found a mini-Hulk goblin. Not a hydra, but she was pretty confident she knew where to go from here to get to one. Miyako had Nephthys cook it, then looked around. The tunnel branched both left and right, as well as continuing straight. As far as she could recall, that was consistent with their previous encounters. "I think we'll find a hydra if we go to the right," she said.

"What makes you say that?" Rui wondered as they began walking again.

"Because we found a hydra the last time we went right after defeating one of those goblin things." She began to jog, eager to see whether or not her hunch was right. She could tell Rui was confused, but she seemed content enough to let Miyako experiment for the moment. Sure enough, when they next encountered a monster, it turned out to be a red hydra.

"Huh," was all Rui said, before pointing to it. Miyako wondered if she and Horus were communicating telepathically or if Rui's persona had just come to expect that hydras were his responsibility, but regardless, he dutifully went to work bursting each of the monster's heads with that weird blue energy of his.

"Well, you were right," Rui deadpanned, then proceeded to collect their loot from their latest victim.

"Okay, now look," Miyako started. "This path also branches four ways, including the way we just came from, but the difference is that each of the three tunnels that would let us continue also branches into two other tunnels. You pick one and it goes several different ways, just like a hydra. You cut off one head and it grows two more in place."

"Just what is it you're getting at?" Rui wondered aloud.

Miyako sighed, trying to think of a way to put her thoughts into words. "Every web of tunnels we've encountered after a hydra has branched in the same fashion. Just like the tunnel beyond every mummy has only gone one way forward, and the ones after every goblin thing have split into left, right, or straight."

"So basically, each monster represents the directions we can proceed in."

"I think so?"

"Alright… well that might be an interesting observation, but how does it help us figure out which way leads to the end of this damn maze?"

"Ummmm… I haven't quite worked out that far, yet."

Then suddenly, Rui's expression became sullen and her voice dropped low. "Hey – do you think this puzzle has something to do with Ryo?" she asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. It just seems like… a logic puzzle. It sort of fits him. Kind of like how that, uh… that pink room was connected to me. I thought maybe this could be connected to him. It might mean we're getting close. Maybe he's actually in here somewhere, and this puzzle is because of his influence, or… something."

Miyako wanted to believe that, and could see the reasoning behind it. But she also knew her luck, and it wasn't that good. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. You might be right, but you might be overthinking it. Like you're too eager to connect things. I mean, it could also be related to Ren or Takara, or none of them at all." Of course, she realized she could also be overthinking things, but decided not to mention that.

Rui replied, "I guess. I'm tired. It could just be wishful thinking. But if we're going to get technical, you're just as guilty. You're making up guesses as you go. I'm just trying to support them."

Miyako reluctantly agreed, but now that the thought was in her mind, she could feel herself latching on to the possibility. Or maybe that was Nephthys trying to clue her in. The brunette couldn't tell anymore. "Do you know if Ryo, um… if he likes any of these creatures? Maybe that would be a clue. We might have to follow the tunnels that have his interests in them."

"I have no idea. You've been friends with him longer than I have."

"Well, if we assume for the moment that that's true," Miyako pondered, trying to think like Ryo, "we could probably rule out anything with lizards, fire cats, or mummies."

"Why?"

"Because they were on the lower floor too," Miyako reasoned. "If they were down there, then they're not likely to have any connection to this floor's puzzle. They're probably just here for fillers."

"We have no basis for that."

"This whole thing is a gut feeling. _Your_ gut feeling," she reminded her.

" _Our_ gut feeling, but alright," Rui sighed, relenting. "Well then, what about the hydras? They're new to this floor, and so is the plethora of branching pathways which could be symbolized by all of the hydras' heads?"

"Maybe… but that would be a _lot_ of paths we'd have to check," Miyako groaned. She mentally tried to consider the other possibilities, if only so they could narrow down their path. No matter what she tried, she couldn't think of any connection the sharks might have to Ryo, unless he had some obsession with sharks that she didn't know about. On the other hand, the little green demon goblin things… what correlation could those possibly share with Ryo?

She turned to Rui, who had shifted her attention to Nephthys and Horus above. The two persona appeared to be behaving themselves, and Miyako was infinitely grateful that they had not vanished yet during this floor's exploration. Not that she were worried – if they really did only stick around when their masters were afraid, Miyako just had to remind herself that any of these creatures could kill her if given the chance. Even so, there still seemed to be some hostility from Horus towards Nephthys. The falcon had his arms crossed and his back to the phoenix, who in turn repeatedly tilted her heads at him like a curious puppy as she tried to step around him and look at his face.

"The hair!" Miyako shouted suddenly, causing Rui to jump and look around in a panic. Horus, likewise, gripped his staff tighter and sunk into a defensive pose, while Nephthys put her hands on her hips and tapped her own staff on the ground impatiently, irritation rolling off her.

"What did you say now?" Rui asked, once she relaxed a little.

"His hair. Those little green things have hair! And they look like Ren! He thinks he's tough, so maybe Ryo sees him like a little Hulk!"

"That's your big epiphany?"

Miyako shrunk back, wounded. Still, she responded defiantly, "Yes! I think it makes the most sense. It's the only direct link to him that we've seen so far."

"You're forgetting that all of this is just one big theory," Rui started, but before she could comment on what part of the maze might represent Takara, Miyako responded.

"Then let's test it!" And she took off running back down the tunnel they came from, not bothering to wait for Rui to catch up. She could sense Nephthys following her, at least.

It didn't take her long to find a tunnel with one of those green monsters in it, now that she was actively keeping track of them. With a glance behind her, she saw Rui and Horus trailing not far away, so she proceeded to have Nephthys roast their enemy.

"Hold it!" Rui called to her, as Nephthys's foe was incinerated. "Weren't you the one getting on my case about running blindly into battle? If you're going to do this, you shouldn't just rush into fights! Your persona uses more energy than mine, and we don't have many syrup vials left. You need to preserve your energy."

Miyako hesitated, about to point out the hypocrisy of Rui telling someone they're being reckless, but she held her tongue, mostly because the other girl had already noted it. She was right, after all. Still, she had a hunch and it had energized her, however temporarily, and she wanted to make the most of that. "Alright, you have a point," she relented. "But I really think we're on to something here. Help me clear these things out?" With that, she reached up and pulled Nephthys' staff from her hands.

The phoenix woman crossed her arms over her chest, affronted, but before she could vanish Miyako looked up at her and said, "Don't you dare! I know you're thinking it. We're still going to need your help." This seemed to appease her persona – much to Horus' amusement, she noted, as now the falcon was watching the pair of them, scratching his head.

"Alright, everyone, let's go. Our targets are those… goblin things! And only those!" Miyako stopped to wonder if the creatures here had names. Not that she had any way of knowing, anyway, but it would be nice to have something concrete to call them. She shook her head. "Everyone ready? Okay, let's move out!"

* * *

 **Last update: Sep 15, 2017 This update: May 29, 2019**

 **Just a liiiiiiittle gap there. I honestly can't believe it's been _that_ long since I've updated this, mostly because I feel like I've been re-working the next three chapters for a long time. Anyway, I'm going to post dates between chapters from now on, like I am with my other main story, mostly for my own records when I go back and look at when I updated what.**

 **I'm still working out the details with this story, and I really can't seem to get the next two chapters to flow how I want them to, but honestly I just kind of want to get them done and move on to some "regular school life" stuff. I have a few scenes for later on in the story already written and I'm pretty excited to get to them, but it's likely to be a while with my writing pace, and I'm never going to get there if I don't get through the early stuff first, so. I'm going to try to get there at a reasonable pace (story-wise, maybe not update-wise), but also not totally rush through it if I can help it.**

 **To answer some reviewer questions that I can't recall doing since the last chapter: Yes, Japanese schools teach computer skills as far as I know (or at least, definitely do have computers) but the school in-story here does not have ones available for student use, that's all. Yes, the sci-fi show reference last chapter is a real existing TV show. Yes, the energy spell is Frei, we just haven't gotten to a point where it makes sense for them to know the names yet (although that is coming up relatively soon, mostly for my ease of writing's sake). And finally, as for why Nephthys seems to have a mind of her own... well that's exactly the intent; I'm basing this loosely off another story rather than the canonical games where the personas (minus Arsene) just seem to be tools. I don't intend for that to be plot related (it's just meant to add another layer of character development) but who knows, we'll see where that goes.**

 **Edit: Apologies if this appears in anyone inbox twice. Apparently the line breaks between scenes did not post last night when I thought I saved it.**


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